PrintUS STOCKS-S&P 500 is close to flat as investors await Fed rate decision
BY Reuters | ECONOMIC | 12/09/25 02:59 PM EST*
Indexes mixed: Dow off 0.25 %, S&P 500 ~flat, Nasdaq up 0.15%
*
JP Morgan shares sink after expense comments
*
U.S. to allow Nvidia H200 chip shipments to China
*
Warner Bros fight heats up with $108 bln hostile bid from Paramount
*
Investors assess JOLTS data
(Updates prices to late afternoon)
By Sin?ad Carew and Johann M Cherian
Dec 9 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged on Tuesday as investors anticipated that the Federal Reserve would take a hawkish tone even if it cuts interest rates this week, while JP Morgan curbed gains after the biggest U.S. bank warned of hefty expenses for 2026. The Fed kicked off its two-day policy meeting on Tuesday with traders widely expecting a quarter-percentage point rate cut despite inflation still running above the central bank's 2% target.
Policymakers have sent mixed signals about the outlook. Some have warned that price pressures could easily reaccelerate, while others are more concerned about the labor market's health. Tuesday's Labor Department report did little to clear the air as job openings increased marginally in October, but hiring remained subdued. Separately, a National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) report showed companies intending to create new jobs in the near future.
"It appears that the bias for the market right now is that you're going to see a modestly less dovish Fed because of the job openings," said Jeff Schulze, head of economic and market strategy at ClearBridge.
Traders are still pricing in a roughly 87% chance of a 25-basis-point rate on Wednesday, according to CME's FedWatch Tool. But Schulze sees "a higher likelihood of a pause after tomorrow's rate cut."
"Investors are taking a wait-and-see stance until they have a better view of what potential Fed policy will be going forward," he said.
At 2:50 p.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average
fell 120.56 points
, or
0.25
%, to
47,618.76
, the S&P 500
lost 0.26 points
, or
0.00
%, to
6,846.60
and the Nasdaq Composite
gained 34.63 points
, or
0.15
%, to
23,580.53
. After rising near 1% earlier in the day, the S&P 500 bank index was down 1.8% after JP Morgan Chase's consumer and community banking chief Marianne Lake said the bank expects expenses to climb to about $105 billion in 2026, driven largely by growth and volume-related costs.
JP Morgan shares were down 4% and tracking for their biggest one-day loss since early April.
Seven of the 11 S&P 500 industry sectors edged higher, led by a 0.9% rise in energy, while healthcare, down 0.5%, was the biggest loser. Trading in technology shares was also choppy on Tuesday. U.S. President Donald Trump said he would allow Nvidia to ship H200 processors, its second-most powerful AI chips, to China for a 25% fee on those exports. But, a Financial Times report that said Beijing was set to limit access to those chips, while China hardliners in Washington slammed the Trump administration for its decision.
Nvidia's shares were last down 0.6% after rising nearly 2% in premarket trading.
Investor appetite for corporate spending on artificial
intelligence infrastructure is likely to face greater scrutiny
with results due from Oracle and Broadcom
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.47-to-1 ratio on the NYSE where
there were
174
new highs and
42
new lows. On the Nasdaq,
2,780
stocks rose and
1,873
fell as
advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.48-to-1 ratio
.
The S&P 500 posted
17 new 52-week highs
and
6 new lows
while the Nasdaq Composite recorded
93 new highs
and
70 new lows
. (Reporting by Sin?ad Carew in New York, Johann M Cherian and Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid, Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Aurora Ellis)
