S&P 500, Nasdaq inch up ahead of Fed verdict; UnitedHealth falls

By Shristi Achar A and Sruthi Shankar

(Reuters) – The and Nasdaq rose for a fifth straight session to hit multi-month highs on Wednesday, as investors bet the Federal Reserve would skip raising interest rates later in the day, while a drop shares of insurer UnitedHealth weighed on the Dow.

A larger-than-expected drop in U.S. producer prices in May due to a decline in the costs of energy goods and food signaled that inflation was cooling, further supported by data a day earlier that showed consumer prices moderated last month.

The U.S. central bank is expected to leave interest rates steady at the 5%-5.25% range, unchanged for the first time since it kicked off a historically aggressive round of policy tightening in March 2022 aimed at curbing soaring inflation.

“Whether or not this is the end of rate hikes for this cycle, we don’t know yet nor does the Fed,” said Brad Bernstein, managing director at UBS Wealth Management.

“I think we’ll get what’s called a hawkish pause today, where they’ll be talking about their concerns about inflation but at the same time not raise rates.”

Traders see a 95% chance the Fed will hold rates at the current levels, but have priced in nearly 60% odds of a 25-basis-point hike in July, according to the CME Fedwatch tool.

The yield on the two-year Treasury notes, which tend to move in step with short-term rate expectations, slipped to 4.6% after the release of producer prices data. [US/]

The Fed is scheduled to issue its policy statement and deliver new quarterly economic projections at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT), followed by Chair Jerome Powell’s news conference.

Weighing on the Dow, UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:) tumbled 7.4% after the health insurer warned of a spike in medical costs in the second quarter as more older adults undergo non-urgent procedures they had delayed during the pandemic.

The S&P 500 health sector fell 0.9%, while the S&P 500 managed healthcare index hit a near 17-month low, down 7.8%.

Shares of hospital operators Universal Health (NYSE:) Services and HCA Healthcare (NYSE:), however, were among the top gainers on the S&P 500, up 5.4% and 3.4%, respectively.

U.S. stocks have rallied in recent weeks, pushing the benchmark S&P 500 and Nasdaq to 14-month highs, boosted by signs of economic resilience, an upbeat earnings season and hopes that interest rates were near their peak.

While megacap technology stocks have driven much of the gains this year, economically sensitive small-cap shares as well as material and banking sectors have joined the rally recently.

At 10:15 a.m. ET, the was down 117.13 points, or 0.34%, at 34,094.99, the S&P 500 was up 12.06 points, or 0.28%, at 4,381.07, and the was up 39.46 points, or 0.29%, at 13,612.78.

Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:) rose 1.1% after Reuters reported that Amazon (NASDAQ:) Web Services was considering using the company’s artificial intelligence chips.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.21-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.35-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 31 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 58 new highs and 22 new lows.