Major Averages Remain Mixed As Fed Announcement Looms

(RTTNews) - With traders reluctant to make any significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement, stocks have shown a lack of direction throughout much of the trading day on Wednesday. A mixed batch of economic data is also contributing to the choppy trading.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street comes as many traders are staying on the sidelines ahead of the Fed's announcement at about 2 pm ET.

While the Fed is widely expected to announce another $10 billion reduction in the pace of its asset purchases, traders are likely to pay close attention to any changes to the language of the accompanying statement.

Most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves in mid-day trading, contributing to the lackluster performance by the broader markets.

While weakness among computer hardware and internet stocks is weighing on the tech-heavy Nasdaq, some strength is visible among trucking stocks.

C.H. Robinson (CHRW) is leading the trucking sector higher, with the third party logistics company surging up by 6.5 percent after reporting better than expected first quarter earnings.

Currently, the major averages are turning in a mixed performance, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq posting a modest loss. The Nasdaq is down 8.27 points or 0.2 percent at 4,095.27, while the Dow is up 14.48 points or 0.1 percent at 16,549.85 and the S&P 500 is up 0.69 points or less than 0.1 percent at 1,879.02.