MCD McDonalds Corp

By Ellie Ismailidou and Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

San Francisco Fed's Williams says he backs rate increase "sooner rather than later"

U.S. stocks on Wednesday struggled to make substantial headway as investors braced for a duo of Federal Reserve speakers and a key report on economic conditions, which could help gauge the Fed's next steps on U.S. interest rates.

Investors also were eagerly awaiting a product announcement from Apple Inc.(AAPL) later in the day, where the tech giant is expected to unveil an update to its iPhone roster.

The S&P 500 was trading little-changed, but tilting in positive territory at 2,186, buoyed by gains in tech shares. A 0.7% drop in consumer-staples stock weighed on the large-cap gauge.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 12 points, or 0.1%, at 18,520, pressured by a 0.6% drop in Home Depot Inc. (HD) and McDonald's Corp.,(MCD) but boosted by a 1.4% gain in Caterpillar Inc.(CAT).

And the Nasdaq Composite Index was holding ground at 5,277.

Wednesday's muted action came after U.S. stocks logged small gains on Tuesday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-set-to-open-higher-as-traders-return-from-holiday-2016-09-06) when a disappointing services-sector report fueled expectations the Fed won't raise interest rates at its Sept. 20-21 meeting.

Traders may get more clues on the Fed's view on rates this morning, when Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker and Kansas City Fed President Esther George testify at the House Financial Services panel on 'Governance, Monetary Policy and Economic Performance' at 10 a.m. Eastern Time.

San Francisco Fed President John Williams late Tuesday said he still backs a rate increase "sooner rather than later" (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/feds-williams-still-backs-rate-hike-sooner-rather-than-later-2016-09-06), repeating comments he made before the release of the disappointing August jobs report. (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/economy-adds-151000-new-jobs-in-august-2016-09-02)

The Fed's report on economic conditions, the so-called Beige Book, comes out at 2 p.m., Société Générale analysts said.

"Given the declines in both the ISM factory and services surveys in August, comments from regional Fed banks about the degree of cooling in those sectors could aid in determining whether the weak ISM prints in August truly reflect weaker conditions," they said in a note.

At 10 a.m., Labor Department figures on July job openings, known as the JOLTS report, are due.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 07, 2016 09:54 ET (13:54 GMT)

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