Investing.com – Wall Street traded lower as a revenue upset from Apple dampened risk appetite and market players looked ahead to the Federal Reserve’s decision on monetary policy.
At 11:21AM ET (15:21GMT), the Dow Jones fell 40 points, or 0.19%, the S&P 500 lost 7 points, or 0.31%, while the Nasdaq Composite traded down 32 points, or 0.53%.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) led the decliners on the Dow and put downward pressure on fellow tech stocks after the iPhone maker reported disappointing sales and forecast current-quarter revenue below expectations.
Investors were also cautious ahead of the Fed statement out at 2:00PM ET (18:00GMT) on Wednesday.
The central bank is not expected to take action on interest rates at the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting that will not include economic projections or a follow-up press conference with Fed chair Janet Yellen, as investors look for any change in the statement’s language which could point more clearly to a June rate hike.
Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool showed the odds for a June move to currently be around 64%.
In economic data out Wednesday, the U.S. service sector expanded at a faster-than-expected pace last month, according to an industry report released earlier.
The Institute for Supply Management said its index of non-manufacturing activity rose to 57.5 in April, beating expectations for a smaller expansion to 55.8.
Additionally, payroll processing firm ADP said non-farm private employment rose by a seasonally adjusted 177,000 last month, just above forecasts for an increase of 175,000.
While not viewed as a reliable guide for the government jobs report due on Friday, May 5, it does give guidance on private-sector hiring.
Back to earnings news, the balance of results was mixed.
In big downside moves, shares of Twilio (NYSE:TWLO) tanked nearly 30% after the cloud software firm gave disappointing guidance for the current quarter.
Sprint (NYSE:S) sank 9% as the wireless provider posted a wider-than-expected loss.
On the upside, Weight Watchers (NYSE:WTW) spiked 14% after the company reported a narrower-than-expected loss.
Delphi Automotive (NYSE:DLPH) traded up more than 8% after it gave a robust full-year earnings outlook.
Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) rose nearly 3% as investors cheered a rise in same store sales at Taco Bell and KFC, pushing quarterly profit above expectations.
Meanwhile, oil prices attempted to shrug off an initially bearish reaction to a less-than-expected drop in weekly crude inventories.
Nearing midday U.S. trade, crude was struggling to regain in positive territory in volatile trade as investors may have taken heart in the fact that gasoline stockpiles rose much less than forecast while distillate inventories registered a surprise draw.
U.S. crude futures slipped 0.04% to $47.67 by 11:25AM ET (15:25GMT), while Brent oil rose 0.16% to $50.54.