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 major benchmarks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 55 points, or 0.3%, to 18,013 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 fell 4 points, or 0.2%, to 2,122, weighed by a 1.3% drop in the energy sector.

The Nasdaq Composite Index bucked the broader market to advance 11 points, or 0.2%, to 5,166.

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 analysts concluded that the sector is still bogged down by excess inventory. 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 on 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.

"There is not a strong driver or a data point for investors to trade on and there is a lack of a conviction in the market," said Eric Wiegand, senior portfolio manager at U.S. Bank's Private Client Reserve, who expects the market to remain choppy going into the Federal Reserve meeting on Sept. 20-21.

The overall narrative, in his opinion, has not really changed significantly over the past several months with investors still preoccupied with central bank policies, global growth and corporate earnings.

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.

"It seems to be all about the Fed and other central banks. Ironically, I think the market will rally when [the rate hike] happens," said Uri Landesman, president of Platinum Partners. The market, like you and me, would rather go out in the rain rather than when it's not sure if it's going to precipitate."

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 0.6% 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 2% 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 1.5% 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 2.7% 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 15:48 ET (19:48 GMT)

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