US STOCKS-Wall Street mixed as Fed rate cut decision nears

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Indexes: Dow up 0.30%, S&P 500 up 0.12%, Nasdaq off 0.14%

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U.S. to allow Nvidia H200 chip shipments to China

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Warner Bros fight heats up with $108 bln hostile bid from Paramount

(Updates with market open prices)

By Johann M Cherian and Pranav Kashyap

Dec 9 (Reuters) -

Wall Street's main stock indexes were mixed on Tuesday as investors awaited the Federal Reserve's policy decision and assessed conflicting signals over the future of U.S. AI chip exports to China.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he would allow Nvidia (NVDA) to ship H200 processors, its second-most powerful AI chips, to China but would collect a 25% fee on those exports.

However, Nvidia (NVDA) shares that had risen as much as 2% in premarket trading, slipped and were last down 0.7% after a Financial Times report that said Beijing was set to limit access to those chips.

"While the deal does not include the most powerful Blackwell chips, it is a positive step towards maintaining the current good trade relations between the two largest economies," said Achilleas Georgolopoulos, senior market analyst at brokerage XM.

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Intel (INTC) also lacked clear direction in morning trading despite President Trump saying that a similar approach would apply to other semiconductor companies.

At 9:51 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 148.64 points, or 0.30%, to 47,880.89, the S&P 500 gained 8.47 points, or 0.12%, to 6,854.98 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 32.35 points, or 0.14%, to 23,518.29.

The spotlight this week is on the Fed's two-day policy meeting, which kicks off on Tuesday and ends with a decision on Wednesday.

Data has pointed to still-stubborn inflation, which is running above the Fed's 2% target, even as secondary indicators hint the once-red-hot labor market is starting to cool in some sectors.

Traders now see an 89.6% chance of a 25-basis-point rate cut this week, according to CME's FedWatch Tool, though policymakers remain divided.

Several policymakers have cautioned that price pressures could easily reaccelerate in the months ahead.

Even so, markets are still penciling in another 50 basis points of easing next year as the Fed seeks to safeguard a softening jobs backdrop.

Expectations for Fed rate cuts have underpinned risk-taking, bringing Wall Street's S&P 500 within 1% of a record high, while an index tracking small caps has outperformed the benchmark index this quarter.

Traders also kept an eye on a bidding war between Paramount Skydance (PSKY) and Netflix (NFLX) over Warner Bros that has lifted shares of the iconic Hollywood studio by 11% in the past two sessions. Warner Bros shares added 1.2% in Tuesday premarket trading.

Seven out of the 11 S&P 500 sectors were higher, while Paramount's decline weighed on the communication services sector.

Home improvement chain Home Depot lost 2.5% after forecasting fiscal 2026 comparable sales growth and profit below estimates.

CVS Health gained 3% after the health insurer forecast 2026 profit above estimates.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.69-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.08-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 10 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 45 new highs and 31 new lows. (Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)