Stocks rose slightly Wednesday as Wall Street braced for the Federal Reserve’s latest policy decision on interest rates after closing out a terrible month.
The moves came after the Treasury detailed plans of the size of its future bond sales amid growing concerns of the U.S. government’s rising debt load. It appeared to be in-line with what traders were expecting. The Treasury will auction $112 billion in debt next week, largely matching what Wall Street was expecting.
The 10-year Treasury yield slipped slightly after the Treasury announcement.
Private sector payrolls in October came in weaker than expected, the ADP said Wednesday. Companies added 113,000 workers last month, lower than the 130,000 anticipated by economists polled by Dow Jones.
Those moves come as traders turn their eyes to Washington for the Fed’s latest policy announcement. Central bankers are largely expected to maintain rates steady, with fed funds futures pricing suggests a more than 99% probability that rates will remain at current levels, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
The decision is slated for release at 2 p.m. ET, followed by a news conference with Chair Jerome Powell at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Wall Street is coming off a dismal October. The Dow and the S&P 500 ended the month lower by 1.4% and 2.2%, respectively, marking the first three-month losing streak for both indexes since March 2020. Notably, the S&P 500 temporarily fell into correction territory. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.8% in October, also falling for a third straight month.