Investing.com – Wall Street opened just off record highs on Monday, as investors paused ahead of Wednesday’s policy rate decision by the Federal Reserve.
The Dow rose 42 points, or 0.2%, by 9:40 AM ET (13:40 GMT), while the S&P 500 was down 3 points, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 31 points, or 0.4%.
The Fed is expected to cut rates by at least 25 basis points, its first rate cut in a decade. Chances of a full 50 basis point cut dampened after upbeat data, including Friday’s GDP report.
Markets expect am additional reduction to rates in September, with more than a 50% chance of a third cut by the end of the year.
"The key question facing investors now is whether the Fed can get away with a small number of insurance cuts or whether it will be pushed toward a more fundamental loosening of policy," Neil Shearing, group chief economist at Capital Economics, said in a note.
Uber (NYSE:UBER) was among the top gainers after the open, rising 1.4% after Business Standard reported that Amazon is in early stages to acquire Uber Eat’s business in India. Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) fell 1.2%
Mylan (NASDAQ:MYL) stock jumped 15.9% after reports that it is planning to merge with Pfizer's off-patent drug business in an all-stock deal, while Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY) gained 2.4% after the French drugmaker raised its outlook for the year.
Elsewhere, Domino’s Pizza (NYSE:DPZ) fell 2.7% after Deutsche Bank initiated coverage at sell, while Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) was down 1% after it lowered its full-year guidance. Semiconductor company Micron (NASDAQ:MU) slipped 1.6%, while Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) was down 0.9%.
In commodities, crude oil rose 0.7% to $56.61 a barrel while gold futures gained 0.1% to $1,419.75 a troy ounce. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.1% to 97.847.
-Reuters contributed to this report