WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks showed a lack of direction early in the
session on Wednesday and continued to turn in a lackluster performance in
afternoon trading. While the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 have slid a little more
firmly into the red, the narrower Dow is posting a modest gain.

Currently, the Dow is up 123.83 points or 0.3 percent at 37,939.75, but the
Nasdaq is down 54.90 points or 0.4 percent at 15,602.95 and the S&P 500 is down
13.90 points or 0.3 percent at 5,021.79.

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

While the Fed is widely expected to leave rates unchanged, traders will pay
close to the wording of the accompanying statement along with Fed Chair Jerome
Powell's post-meeting press conference.

'Yesterday's late selloff characterized a shift in the market's mindset from
hopes of monetary accommodation to acceptance that higher rates will persist,'
said John Lynch, Chief Investment Officer for Comerica Wealth Management.

'Consequently, today's big news will likely come from Treasury's refunding
announcement rather than the FOMC,' he added. 'Any signs of increased liquidity
should enable economic demand, and risk assets, to regain their footing.'

In U.S. economic news, payroll processor ADP released a report showing private
sector employment increased by more than expected in the month of April.

ADP said private sector employment shot up by 192,000 jobs in April after
jumping by an upwardly revised 208,000 jobs in March.

Economists had expected private sector employment to climb by 175,000 jobs
compared to the addition of 184,000 jobs originally reported for the previous
month.

'Hiring was broad-based in April,' said ADP chief economist Nela Richardson.
'Only the information sector - telecommunications, media, and information
technology - showed weakness, posting job losses and the smallest pace of pay
gains since August 2021.'

Meanwhile, the Institute for Supply Management released a separate report
showing a modest contraction by U.S. manufacturing activity in the month of
April.

The ISM said its manufacturing PMI slipped to 49.2 in April from 50.3 in March,
with a reading below 50 indicating contraction. Economists had expected the
index to edge down to 50.0.

The slight pullback by the index came after it indicated a modest expansion in
March following sixteen consecutive months of contraction.

Sector News

Semiconductor stocks continue to see substantial weakness on the day, resulting
in a 3.6 percent nosedive by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has led the sector lower, plunging by 9.2 percent
despite reporting slightly better than expected first quarter results. Traders
may be disappointed AMD provided second quarter sales guidance in line with
analyst estimates.

Significant weakness also remains visible among computer hardware stocks, as
reflected by the 2.4 percent slump by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index.

Shares of Super Micro Computer (SMCI) have plummeted by 15.2 percent after the
high efficiency server maker reported weaker than expected fiscal third quarter
revenues.

Energy and airline stocks are also seeing notable weakness, while utilities
stocks have shown a strong move to the upside.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, Japanese and Australian stocks moved lower on Wednesday,
with most markets in the Asia-Pacific region closed for Labor Day. Japan's
Nikkei 225 Index dipped by 0.3 percent, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index
slumped by 1.2 percent.

While most of the major European markets were also closed on the day, U.K.
stocks moved modestly lower. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index ended the day down by 0.3
percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are regaining ground after moving notably lower
in the previous session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note,
which moves opposite of its price, is down by 2.9 basis points at 4.657 percent.



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