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Update: Equity Markets Mixed Intraday as Fed Meeting Begins

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Update: Equity Markets Mixed Intraday as Fed Meeting Begins

(Updates with latest market prices and developments.)

US benchmark equity indexes were mixed intraday as the Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting got underway.

The Nasdaq Composite was down 0.6% at 26,518.3 after midday Tuesday, while the S&P 500 fell 0.3% to 7,531.1. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.9% to 52,101. Most sectors were in the green, led by financials, while technology saw the biggest drop.

Salesforce (CRM) shares were down 2.2%, the biggest drop on the Dow, followed by fellow tech majors Microsoft (MSFT) and Nvidia (NVDA), respectively. On the S&P 500, Intel (INTC) was among the worst performers, down 5.6%.

Markets widely expect the Fed to leave its benchmark lending rate unchanged Wednesday, which would mark the central bank's fourth straight pause, according to the CME FedWatch tool. The meeting is Kevin Warsh's first as Fed chair, who assumed the role last month, replacing Jerome Powell.

"The (Federal Open Market Committee) is expected to remove the lingering easing bias from the statement, signaling instead an equal probability of the next policy move being a rate cut or a rate hike," Stifel said in a note. "There will also be an updated SEP, or Summary of Economic Projections, released with policymakers likely increasing both their expectations for inflation amid rising energy prices, as well as growth, reflecting a pickup in productivity amid a rapid and ongoing adoption of (artificial intelligence)."

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down 6.4% at $75.62 a barrel intraday, while Brent dropped 5.4% to $78.69.

The US and Iran recently agreed to end their war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which is the world's most important chokepoint for crude flows. The two sides are scheduled to sign their peace deal in Switzerland Friday, which would kick off another round of negotiations on Tehran's nuclear program as Iran seeks sanctions relief.

US President Donald Trump vowed to publicly release the text of the agreement "in a couple of days," CNN reported Tuesday.

Analysts have flagged the possibility of implementation risks and potential disagreements.

"The path ahead is complex: watch for implementation disagreements, Gulf states' security demands, and Iran's continued leverage over the Strait of Hormuz," Deutsche Bank said in a note.

US Treasury yields were lower intraday, with the 10-year rate down 4.9 basis points at 4.43% and the two-year yield falling 3.2 basis points to 4.05%.

In economic news, US housing starts plummeted to the lowest level since 2020 in May amid a steep drop in multi-family projects, government data showed.

"There is little indication that US home building will break to the upside anytime soon, given high mortgage rates, previous overbuilding in the South, elevated new home inventories relative to sales, and the current depressed level of builder activity in the (National Association of Home Builders) survey," BMO Capital Markets said in a note.

In company news, Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX) agreed to acquire Anysphere, which operates artificial intelligence coding agent Cursor, in a deal worth about $60 billion, just days after the Elon Musk-led rocket and satellite company went public. SpaceX shares were up 11% intraday.

Olin (OLN) and Huntsman (HUN) agreed to merge in an all-stock deal to create a larger North American chemicals company with more than $12 billion in annual revenue. Huntsman shares were down 17% intraday, while Olin fell 7.1%.

La-Z-Boy (LZB) is scheduled to report its latest quarterly financial results after the closing bell Tuesday, along with others.

Gold was little changed at $4,351.20 per troy ounce, while silver edged down 0.4% to $69.90 per ounce.

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