LIVE MARKETS-Stocks mixed, investors non-committal: Over to you, Jerome

US stocks end mixed, S&P 500, Dow lose ground; Nasdaq advances Energy leads S&P sector gainers; Healthcare biggest laggard Gold, dollar up; bitcoin gains >1.5%; crude slides US 10-year Treasury yields edges up to 4.18% Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to you by Reuters reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at STOCKS MIXED, INVESTORS NON-COMMITTAL: OVER TO YOU, JEROME Wall Street had a mixed and range-bound Tuesday as investors seemed commitment-averse ahead of Powell & Co’s rate decision on Wednesday. The S&P 500 joined the Dow in negative territory, while the Nasdaq eked out a nominal gain. The small-cap Russell 2000 (.RUT) also ended green, notching its third consecutive advance. Airlines were the day’s clear outperformers, with all nine constituents in the S&P 1500 Airlines index (.SPCOMAIR) handily outperforming the broader market. Down at the other end of the scale, housing (.HGX) and homebuilders (.SPCOMHOME) , along with banks (.SPXBK) , all had bad days. The U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to lower the Fed funds target rate for the third and final time this year when it wraps up is December policy meeting on Wednesday, with CME’s FedWatch assigning an 87.4% probability to that outcome. What remains unknown is the Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s tone and the contents of the central bank’s Summary of Economic Projections, which will contain an update to the dot plot, the potential road map of future Fed policy. The Fed is divided on which half of its dual mandate warrants the most attention; price control or full employment. To make matters worse, huge gaps remain in the economic picture; with official inflation and employment data missing in action amid Washington’s shutdown spat, policymakers have limited information to inform their decision. Even so, it’s clear that inflation remains above the Fed’s 2% target and the labor market is softening. Early in the session the Labor Department released its JOLTS report, which showed a rise in unfilled jobs, a hiring slowdown, an uptick in layoffs and the lowest quit rate since the nadir of the COVID era. So private sources (ADP, Challenger, ISM, NFIB, Conference Board) are likely to play a larger role than normal in the decision-making process. Speaking of data, mortgage demand and Q3 employment costs are on Wednesday’s docket, as are quarterly results from Adobe (ADBE.O) and Oracle (ORCL.O) among a smattering of others. Here’s your closing snapshot: (Stephen Culp) EARLIER ON LIVE MARKETS: A POSITIVE GLOBAL OUTLOOK BODES BADLY FOR US DOLLAR CLICK HERE CAN THE FED CONVINCE MARKETS THAT IT’S HAWKISH? CLICK HERE TUESDAY DATA: LABOR MARKET CHURN, SURGING PRICE INCREASES GIVE FED SOMETHING TO CHEW ON CLICK HERE STOCKS MIXED AS TRADERS SHOW CAUTION AHEAD OF FED RATE DECISION CLICK HERE RETAIL INVESTOR BOOM HERE TO STAY, SAYS JEFFERIES CLICK HERE MONDAY’S BOND SELL-OFF: SCHNABEL OR SOMETHING ELSE? CLICK HERE GETTING THIN FOR THE HOLIDAYS CLICK HERE REASONS TO BE BULLISH ABOUT EUROPEAN DEFENCE NEXT YEAR CLICK HERE LIQUIDITY BOOST TO GIVE EQUITIES A LIFT IN 2026 CLICK HERE STOXX STEADY, HELPED BY FINANCIALS CLICK HERE BEFORE THE BELL: DEFENCE AND RENEWABLES EYED IN EUROPE CLICK HERE MARKETS RIDDLED WITH ANXIETY ON ALMOST-FED DAY CLICK HERE Closing snapshot