Stocks slipped as Wall Street waits for the Federal Reserve's latest decision on interest rates. The S&P 500 fell 9.58 points, or 0.2%, to 4,443.95 Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 106.57 points, or 0.3%, to 34,517.73. The Nasdaq composite fell 32.05 points, or 0.2%, to 13,678.19. The Fed is beginning its latest meeting on interest rates Tuesday, with an announcement scheduled for Wednesday, the AP reports. The overwhelming expectation is for the Fed to announce no change to rates.
Traders are split on whether the Fed may raise rates one more time this year, but they're largely expecting the Fed to begin cutting rates next year. Such cuts can act like steroids for financial markets, giving a lift to all kinds of investments. High rates have already hit the manufacturing and housing industries. A report Tuesday showed that homebuilders broke ground on fewer new homes in August than economists expected. The 11.3% drop from July's level was much worse than the 0.8% forecasted. But activity for building permits, a possible indicator of future activity, rose more than expected.
On Wall Street, shares of Instacart jumped 12.3% in their first day of trading. At one point, they were up more than 40%, the Wall Street Journal reports. The company raised $660 million in its initial public offering, which priced the stock at $30 per share. It arrived on the heels of another highly anticipated IPO by chip designer Arm Holdings. The offerings could mark a warming environment for IPOs, which fell off sharply after stocks tumbled last year with worries about higher interest rates. Arm jumped in its first day of trading on Thursday but has since followed that with three days of losses. Instacart's IPO valued the company at around $10 billion. It was thought to be worth $39 billion in 2021.
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The Walt Disney Co. fell 3.6% for one of the larger losses in the S&P 500 after it announced a big investment plan for its theme parks and cruise lines. It plans to double its investment in its parks, experiences and products business to $60 billion over the next 10 years versus the prior decade. Shares of AutoZone slipped 1.8% after swinging between gains and losses earlier. The auto parts retailer reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The company also said growth in its domestic commercial business was weaker than expected. US Steel rose 3.7% after it said it expects to deliver strong results for the summer, above what analysts were expecting. (More stock market stories.)
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