US stocks traded flat and slightly higher on Wednesday as investors braced for a rate cut by the Federal Reserve, the first cut in more than four years.
Market investors' expectations of the size of the reduction remain divided, with the odds for a reduction of 50 basis points now above 60%.
In stock trading on Tuesday yesterday, the Dow was down 0.04%, the S&P 500 was up 0.03% and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.2%.
Healthcare, consumer staples and real estate stocks were the biggest laggards, while energy and industrial stocks outperformed the market.
In corporate news, Intel jumped 2.7% after announcing that it will receive up to $3 billion in funding under the CHIPS and Science Act, as well as news of a partnership with Amazon.
Meanwhile, Microsoft announced that they will join forces with BlackRock to raise up to $1 trillion to develop data centers and power infrastructure for AI.
