Major Averages Remain Stuck In The Red In Mid-Day Trading

(RTTNews) - Stocks remain mostly negative in mid-day trading on Wednesday after moving moderately lower earlier in the trading session. Selling pressure has remained relatively subdued, however, limiting the downside for the markets.

The pullback seen earlier in the session partly reflected trepidation ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement

Nonetheless, traders seem somewhat reluctant to take significant positions as the decision looms, leading to choppy trading on Wall Street since then.

The Fed is not expected to announce an increase in interest rates, but traders will be paying close attention to any changes to the accompanying statement.

Despite the weakness being shown by the broader markets, most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves in mid-day trading.

Significant weakness remains visible among tobacco stocks, however, with the NYSE Tobacco Index down by 2 percent. The index hit its worst intraday level in well over a month earlier in the session.

Within the tobacco sector, Schweitzer-Mauduit (SWM) is posting a particularly steep loss after the cigarette paper producer announced its CFO and COO are leaving the company.

Retail and biotech stocks are also seeing some weakness on the day, while oil and natural gas stocks have moved to the upside.

Currently, the major averages remain stuck in the red. The Dow is down 95.72 points or 0.5 percent at 17,753.36, the Nasdaq is down 11.37 points or 0.2 percent at 4,926.07 and the S&P 500 is down 7.31 points or 0.4 percent at 2,066.97.