NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is stuck on pause Wednesday as it waits to hear from the Federal Reserve in the afternoon, when it’s expected to deliver the first cut to interest rates of the year.

The S&P 500 edged down by 0.1% and was drifting near its record set on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 340 points, or 0.7%, as of noon. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5% lower.

Anticipation has been building for months about this afternoon’s announcement by the Fed. The decision itself will likely be an afterthought because traders and economists already widely expect the Fed to cut its main interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point.

What’s more important will be what Fed officials say about the probability of more cuts. The unanimous expectation is that they

See Full Page