US Stocks in Holding Pattern Ahead of Fed

(AP) -- Stocks were moving between small gains and losses Wednesday as investors wait to hear from the Federal Reserve on issues related to economy and inflation.

The S&P 500 index was down less than 0.1% as of 10:00 a.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.3%.

The Federal Reserve will end a two-day policy meeting later in the day. While investors do not expect the nation's central bank to increase interest rates from their near-zero levels, most are looking for some sort of guidance from the Fed on inflation.

Prices for many basic materials have risen sharply this year, including copper, oil and lumber, as demand for those materials increases as the U.S. economy recovers from the pandemic. Fed officials have previously said they expect inflation this year to be temporary and largely as a byproduct of economic growth and trillions of dollars of economic stimulus.

Most economists expect the Fed to say again on Wednesday that it sees higher inflation being only temporary, which would allow it to hold steady on its support for markets. But they also say Wednesday afternoon could offer the first sign that the Fed is mulling when to start slowing its purchases of bonds.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell slightly to 1.49% from 1.51% the day before.

In individual stocks, shares of Oracle fell 4% after the company's full-year projections came in below analysts' forecasts.