US stock market mixed ahead of Fed rate hike

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - 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.