01:46 PM EDT, 09/17/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark equity indexes were mixed intraday ahead of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy decision.

The Nasdaq Composite was down 0.6% at 22,191.2 after midday Wednesday, while the S&P 500 fell 0.2% to 6,592.4. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5% to 45,978.1. Among sectors, technology saw the biggest drop, while consumer staples paced the gainers.

The central bank's Federal Open Market Committee is slated to announce its monetary policy decision at 2 pm ET, along with its updated Summary of Economic Projections. Fed Chair Jerome Powell's press conference is scheduled for 2:30 pm.

Markets widely expect the FOMC to deliver a 25-basis-point rate cut, according to the CME FedWatch tool. That would mark its first policy adjustment this year. Many analysts expect the move to be the start of an easing cycle amid worries about a softening US labor market.

"A market widely bearish on the dollar will want to hear greater concerns over the jobs market and less concern over tariff-induced inflation," ING Bank said in a Wednesday report. "He'll probably highlight that monetary policy can become slightly less restrictive, but stop short of suggesting any urgency to cut rates more deeply."

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized Powell and urged the FOMC to lower interest rates.

US Treasury yields were higher intraday Wednesday, with the two-year rate rising 3.7 basis points to 3.55% and the 10-year rate adding 2.3 basis points to 4.05%.

In economic news, US housing starts tumbled more than projected in August amid weakness in both single- and multi-family units, while building permits dropped for the fifth straight month, government data showed.

"If there are any dissenters favoring a large rate cut at today's FOMC meeting, the depressed housing market will likely be one motivating factor alongside a weakening jobs market," BMO Capital Markets said in a report.

The middle of October is expected to be the best time to buy a house in the US this year amid higher inventory, lower prices and less competition, according to a report by News Corp's ( NWSA ) Realtor.com.

"In a year that's been the most buyer-friendly in nearly a decade, it's the best window of opportunity for homebuyers all year," Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale said.

Mortgage applications in the US soared last week as 30-year fixed interest rates on conforming loan balances hit the lowest since October, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down 0.3% at $64.35 a barrel intraday.

In company news, Alibaba Group ( BABA ) and ByteDance are among the major Chinese tech companies that were recently informed by the Cyberspace Administration of China to terminate their testing and orders of Nvidia's ( NVDA ) RTX Pro 6000D artificial intelligence chips, the Financial Times reported, citing unnamed sources.

Nvidia ( NVDA ) shares were down 2.7%, the biggest drop on the Dow and among the steepest on the Nasdaq, while Alibaba's ( BABA ) US-listed shares rose 2.7%.

Manchester United ( MANU ) expects revenue in fiscal 2026 to be lower than the prior year, while the UK soccer club's fourth-quarter loss narrowed as its topline improved. The company's US-listed shared tumbled 8.2%.

Workday (WDAY) shares were up 7%, the top gainer on the S&P 500. The cloud human resources company should be able to meet its medium-term growth targets disclosed Tuesday, RBC Capital Markets said in a note e-mailed Wednesday.

Also on Tuesday, Workday said it agreed to acquire Sweden-based AI company Sana Labs for about $1.1 billion. Workday and Microsoft ( MSFT ) announced a collaboration to help companies securely manage their people and AI agents across platforms.

In a Wednesday regulatory, Workday said its board authorized the repurchase of up to $4 billion of additional shares.

Gold was down 0.2% at $3,717.50 per troy ounce, while silver lost 1.7% to $42.17.