U.S. stocks came under pressure on Wednesday after a profit warning by FedEx, while investors waited for a decision on interest rates and clues on the future of U.S. monetary policy from the Federal Reserve.

Shares of the package delivery company tumbled 14% and were on course for their sharpest one-day percentage drop since the financial crisis after FedEx blamed U.S.-China trade tensions and a split with Amazon.com Inc for its dismal full-year profit forecast.

The stock was the biggest drag on the S&P 500 and drove a 1.9% drop in shares of rival United Parcel Service Inc.

The Dow Jones Transport Average lost 1.78%, while the broader industrial sector was off 0.7%. The sector was the biggest decliner among eight of the 11 major S&P sectors in the red.

Investors are now waiting for the Fed’s policy statement, due at 2:00 p.m. ET (18:00 GMT), followed by Chair Jerome Powell’s address a half hour later.

The central bank is expected to lower interest rates by a quarter percentage point for the second time in three months, but a deep divide among policymakers has led traders to abandon all bets on a third reduction this year.

At 11:25 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 60.42 points, or 0.22%, at 27,050.38, the S&P 500 was down 8.17 points, or 0.27%, at 2,997.53. The Nasdaq Composite was down 26.96 points, or 0.33%, at 8,159.06.

Source : Reuters