US Equity Indexes Mixed Ahead of Fed Policy Announcements

04:59 PM EST, 12/09/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US equity indexes closed mixed on Tuesday, with basic materials and consumer defensive leading sector charts ahead of the highly anticipated third consecutive interest-rate cut from the Federal Reserve.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4% to 47,560.29, with the S&P 500 slipping less than 0.1% to 6,840.51. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.1% to 23,576.49. Industrials, real estate, and healthcare led the decliners.

The Fed's two-day policy meeting ends Wednesday with a policy statement and an updated Summary of Economic Projections, followed by Fed Chair Jerome Powell's press briefing.

The probability of the Fed announcing a 25-basis-point reduction in interest rates is 87%, according to the CME FedWatch tool. Ahead of the policy statement and the release of the updated Summary of Economic Projections, the market is strongly expecting that the Fed will deliver one to two more cuts of the same magnitude by March.

The market expects the Fed to cut rates on Wednesday even though nonfarm payrolls and the consumer price index for October and November will likely be released on Dec. 16, six days after the Fed announces its policy decision.

There will likely be dissent against the rate cut in the Federal Open Market Committee, according to a Macquarie note.

In September, the 'dot-plot' implied one further 25 basis points cut next year, bringing the target range to 3.5% to 3.75%, David Doyle, head of economics at Macquarie Group, said in the note. "However, there was a sharp division beneath the surface. Eight of 19 participants saw the policy rate in the 3.5 to 3.75% range."

Most US Treasury yields traded higher, reflecting uncertainty over the policy path outlook. The two-year yield rose 3.2 basis points to 3.62%. The 10-year rate leaned 1.8 basis points higher to 4.19%, the highest since mid-November.

The ICE US Dollar Index, which reflects the greenback's performance against a basket of the world's major currencies, appreciated 0.2% to 99.24.

In economic news on Tuesday, US job openings rose to 7.670 million in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, above the 7.117 million expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg and up from the 7.658 million reported in September. The October level represents 4.6% of total employment, unchanged from September and from a year earlier.

However, hiring fell to 5.149 million from 5.367 million in September, lowering the hiring rate to 3.2% from 3.4%, according to the BLS.

Nvidia (NVDA) has received clearance from US President Donald Trump, as per his social media post late Monday, to export advanced artificial intelligence chips to China. While H200 chip exports are allowed, Nvidia's (NVDA) cutting-edge Blackwell and Rubin chips remain banned. The US will collect a 25% fee on H200 sales. Shares of Nvidia (NVDA) slipped 0.3%.

The US Department of Commerce is finalizing details, while the same approach will apply to Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) , Intel (INTC) , and other US companies, Trump said in the post.

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