U.S. Stocks Little Changed In Choppy Trading Ahead Of Fed Announcement

(RTTNews) - Stocks have shown a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Wednesday, with the major averages bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line following the mixed performance seen in the previous session.

Currently, the major averages are narrowly mixed. While the Nasdaq is down 15.39 points or 0.1 percent at 26,360.95, the S&P 500 is up 4.78 points or 0.1 percent at 7,516.13 and the Dow is up 249.38 points or 0.5 percent at 52,249.05.

The choppy trading on Wall Street comes as traders seem reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later this afternoon.

While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, the accompanying statement and new Chair Kevin Warsh's post-meeting comments could impact the outlook for rates.

Lingering uncertainty about the preliminary U.S.-Iran deal may also be keeping some traders on the sidelines amid a lack of details about the proposed agreement.

Crude oil prices are regaining some ground after President Donald Trump noted the deal is "not final" and warned the U.S. would "go right back to dropping bombs" on Iran if he doesn't like the terms.

In U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing retail sales in the U.S. increased by much more than expected in the month of May.

The Commerce Department said retail sales grew by 0.9 percent in May after rising by a downwardly revised 0.4 percent in April.