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NEW YORK, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks drifted lower on Wednesday, as investors mainly awaited the monetary policy decision from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
By noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched down 31.60 points, or 0.16 percent, to 19,879.61. The S&P 500 shed 5.00 points, or 0.22 percent, to 2,266.72. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 4.22 points, or 0.08 percent, to 5,459.61.
The U.S. central bank is scheduled to release its announcement later Wednesday. The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by a quarter percentage point, but the Federal Open Market Committee may struggle to communicate what it will do next.
"The Fed is so widely expected to raise rates today, the hike itself is likely to have a smaller market impact than the summary of economic projections and Yellen' s press conference," said chief economist at FTN Financial Chris Low on Wednesday.
According to the CME Group's FedWatch tool, market expectations for a December rate hike were 97.6 percent.
On the economic front, the Producer Price Index for final demand increased 0.4 percent in November, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Labor Department reported Wednesday.
U.S. retail and food services sales for November increased 0.1 percent from the previous month to 465.5 billion dollars, seasonally adjusted, said the Commerce Department.
The Fed posted that industrial production declined 0.4 percent in November after edging up 0.1 percent in October.
U.S. stocks ended higher on Tuesday, with all three major indices refreshing closing records, as investors focused on a key policy meeting from the Fed. Enditem
