US STOCKS-Wall St mixed ahead of Fed's rate decision; Nvidia slips

By Purvi Agarwal and Sukriti Gupta

Sept 17 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were mixed in choppy trading on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 muted ahead of a widely expected interest-rate cut from the U.S. Federal Reserve later in the day.

The central bank is expected to reduce borrowing costs by at least 25 basis points at 2 p.m. ET, a move priced in by investors after a series of economic indicators showed a weakening labor market.

Markets will closely watch Chair Jerome Powell's speech as well as the "dot plot" projections to gauge the monetary policy outlook ahead.

Traders are expecting a rate cut totaling about 68 bps by the end of the year, according to data compiled by LSEG.

"The labor market has suffered quite a bit lately and the symbolism of what the Fed publishes in terms of where they see things going is going to be either buoying to the market, or disheartening," said Jill Gateman, co-head of U.S. Commercial Banking at TD Bank.

"It is going to magnify much more than any rate reduction."

Meanwhile, Nvidia NVDA.O fell 2.3% after a report said China's internet regulator had instructed the country's biggest tech companies to stop buying all of the AI leader's chips.

The stock weighed on the S&P 500 technology sector .SPLRCT, which was down 0.7%, and dragged on the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

A rise in financial stocks such as American Express AXP.N and Goldman Sachs GS.N boosted the Dow.

At 10:08 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 249.20 points, or 0.54%, to 46,007.10, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 4.69 points, or 0.07%, to 6,602.07, and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC fell 73.47 points, or 0.33%, to 22,259.64.

A 1.6% decline in Tesla TSLA.O weighed on the consumer discretionary .SPLRCD sector, which fell 0.6%.

The Fed meeting will be a test of Wall Street's recent rally, supported by rate-cut expectations and revived enthusiasm around AI-stock-linked trading. Investors say the resumption of Fed rate cuts could add to the rally.

Concerns about the central bank's independence seem to have eased slightly, with economic adviser Stephen Miran sworn in as a Fed Governor on Tuesday and an appeals court rejecting U.S. President Donald Trump's bid to sack Governor Lisa Cook.

The three main indexes have gained so far in September, a month deemed historically bad for U.S. equities. The benchmark S&P 500 has shed 1.5% on average in the month since 2000, data compiled by LSEG showed.

In other stocks, New Fortress Energy NFE.O soared 31.7% after the company reached an agreement to supply liquefied natural gas to the Puerto Rican government.

Workday WDAY.O gained 9%, to top the benchmark index after activist investor Elliott Management said on Tuesday it had built a stake of more than $2 billion in the human resources software provider.

Lyft LYFT.O jumped 14% on the news that Alphabet's GOOGL.O Waymo would launch autonomous cab rides in Nashville next year in collaboration with the ride-hailing firm.

Shares in rival Uber UBER.N fell 4.4%, landing at the bottom of the S&P 500.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.09-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.83-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 12 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 56 new highs and 18 new lows.