Wall Street today: US stocks sink ahead of Fed rate decision, Tesla sheds 4.2%, Google drops 3.8%

US stock indices declined on Tuesday, weighed down by tech shares, ahead of the Federal Reserve’s interest rates decision.

At 11:47 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 330.66 points, or 0.79 per cent, to 41,510.97, the S&P 500 lost 68.07 points, or 1.20 per cent, to 5,606.90, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 314.19 points, or 1.77 per cent, to 17,494.16.

Investors are keenly awaiting the US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision and ecomomic projections, to be announced on Wednesday. The central bank is widely expected to keep interest rates steady.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note edged down to 4.30 per cent from 4.31 per cent late on Monday.

On the data front, manufacturing production increased more than expected in February.

Gainers and losers

Tesla stock shed 4.2 per cent. The electric vehicle maker’s stock has been struggling on worries that it will lose sales because of anger at its CEO Elon Musk, who has been leading efforts to cut the US government spending.

Google-parent Alphabet sank 3.8 per cent after the tech giant said it would buy cybersecurity firm Wiz for $32 billion.

Stocks of Amazon.com lost 1.8 per cent and Meta Platforms dropped 4.3 per cent.

Among tech stocks, Nvidia fell 2.3 per cent, Super Micro Computer lost 4.4 per cent, and Palantir Technologies sank 4.9 per cent.

Bullion

Gold prices rose 1 per cent to hit a fresh record high on Tuesday, rising above the $3,000/oz mark, on Middle East tensions.

Spot gold hit a peak of $3,038.26 per ounce and by 12:00 PM ET (1600 GMT) was up 1 per cent at $3,031.22 an ounce. US gold futures gained 1.1 per cent to $3,038.80.

Silver gained 0.5 per cent to $33.99 an ounce.

Crude oil

Oil prices held near a two-week high on Tuesday as instability in the Middle East increased the risk of supply disruptions.

Brent futures rose 25 cents, or 0.4 per cent, to $71.32 a barrel by 10:43 AM EDT (14:43 GMT), while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 17 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to $67.75.