US stock market mixed ahead of Fed rate hike

ANKARA

Major indices in the US stock market were mixed on Wednesday before the Federal Reserve's rate hike.

The Fed is expected to increase interest rates by 50 basis points at 2 p.m. EDT, while investors will focus on the Fed Chair Powell's comments afterwards.

The Dow Jones was up 141 points, or 0.43%, to 33,272 at 12.55 p.m. The S&P 500 added 13 points, or 0.33%, to reach 4,189 points.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq, on the other hand, was down 25 points, or 0.2%, to 12,537.

The yield on 10-year US Treasury notes rose 1% to 2.987%.

The VIX volatility index, known as the fear index, was down 3.1% to 28.34. The dollar index decreased 0.1% to 103.38.

Precious metals were down, with gold falling to $1,868 and silver shedding 0.8% to $22.39.

Crude oil prices jumped more than 4% amid the EU plans to impose ban on Russian crude oil imports.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading at $109.55, up 4.4%, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $107.30 – a 4.7% gain.