By Sue Chang and Anora Mahmudova, MarketWatch

Investors are still cautious ahead of next week's Fed meeting

The Dow industrials and the S&P 500 on Wednesday afternoon succumbed to pressure from slumping crude-oil prices, reversing earlier gains for the equity benchmarks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 23 points, or 0.1%, to 18,045 even as Apple Inc. (AAPL) climbed more than 3% as analysts at RBC Capital Markets outlined five reasons the tech giant is still a buy (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/5-reasons-apple-is-still-a-screaming-buy-as-iphone-7-cycle-begins-2016-09-14) as the iPhone 7 cycle begins.

However, the tech giant's gains were overshadowed by big drops in International Business Machines Corp.(IBM) and Boeing Co.(BA).

The S&P 500 index edged down less than a point to 2,126, weighed by a 1.2% drop in the energy sector, leading the large-cap benchmarks 10 sectors lower.

The Nasdaq Composite Index bucked the broader market to advance 21 points, or 0.4%, to 5,176, supported in part by Apple.

A rebound in Treasury prices had earlier buoyed the market, according to Mark Kepner, managing director of sales and trading at Themis Trading.

"The stable bond market gave investors some comfort, encouraging them to buy some of the dip," he said.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury slid 4.3 basis points to 1.691% after touching its highest level since June 23 on Tuesday.

But as crude oil's decline accelerated, stocks failed to capitalize on their gains. A report on oil supplies published by the Energy Information Administration showed inventories declined by 600,000 barrels last week, much smaller than the 14.5 million barrel drop from the week before. Oil prices briefly spiked after the report, but have since turned lower as the reported was dissected, with West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery down 2.9% in recent trade.

All three stock-index gauges on Tuesday suffered (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dow-futures-slump-more-than-100-points-as-traders-digest-fed-hints-2016-09-13) big losses as a sharp slump in energy prices (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-futures-reverse-gains-ahead-of-weekly-supply-data-2016-09-13) and rate increase fears. These two factors are likely to keep investors skittish, contributing to market volatility.

Fed: Traders have been skittish ahead of the closely watched Federal Reserve meeting on Sept. 20-21.

"With the U.S. central bank now in blackout period ahead of the decision next Wednesday, there is little in the way of positive drivers helping underpin the market at this time," said Michael Hewson chief market analyst at CMC Markets, in a note.

Read:Is this the real culprit behind the stock and bond selloff? (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/it-isnt-the-fed-thats-spooking-stock-and-bond-investors-2016-09-13)

"September is probably an easier time for the Fed to raise rates than December, but it really does not matter. Markets by now know that there will be a rate hike in the next six months," said Maris Ogg, president at Tower Bridge Advisors.

The CME FedWatch Tool is showing a 15% probability of a rate increase next week. Goldman Sachs on Monday cut its September hike odds to 25% from 40% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/goldman-slashes-september-rate-hike-odds-to-25-after-feds-brainard-comments-2016-09-13) following dovish comments from Fed Gov. Lael Brainard.

The economic calendar was relatively thin on Wednesday. Market reaction to the August import-price index was muted. Import prices slipped (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/cost-of-imported-goods-fall-02-in-august-2016-09-14)0.2% due to lower oil, while export prices dropped 0.8%, driven by a fall in farm crop prices.

See:

Movers and shakers: Shares of Monsanto Co.(MON) rose 0.7% after Bayer AG (BAYN.XE) raised its offer for the U.S. seeds major to $128 a share. Both companies announced Wednesday that they had approved the deal.

Ford Motor Co.(F) fell 1.7% after the car maker outlined plans to deliver profitable growth (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ford-outlines-plans-for-electric-self-driving-vehicles-2016-09-14) for the next several years, including investing in electric and autonomous vehicles.

Shares of Macy's Inc. (M) rallied 2.1% after analysts at Citi upgraded the stock to buy from neutral (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/macys-plan-to-shut-stores-prompts-upgrade-at-citi-2016-09-14).

Coach Inc.(COH) shares dropped 2.6% after analysts at Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to underweight from equalweight.

Other markets: The dollar weakened against most other major currencies while gold futures edged higher.

Stocks in Asia closed mainly lower (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-mixed-on-central-bank-worries-2016-09-13), while all major European stock markets advanced (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-set-to-break-string-of-losses-as-oil-recovers-2016-09-14).

--Sara Sjolin contributed to this article.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 14, 2016 15:07 ET (19:07 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.