Stocks slip ahead of the Fed

U.S. stocks slipped Tuesday as the Federal Reserve kicked off its two-day policy meeting and earnings season rolled on.

A quiet session saw the S&P 500 hover near its record-high close reached on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq remained just below their own record peaks.

The major averages saw little reaction to the news that House leadership plans to forge ahead with an impeachment resolution as traders instead looked ahead to the Fed's decision on rates due Wednesday. Traders are forecasting the Fed will cut rates -- by 0.25 percent -- for a third time this year. Market participants will be paying close attention to what the central bank says about future policy in the press conference following the decision as well as the statement.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
I:DJI DOW JONES AVERAGES 39763.8 +3.72 +0.01%
SP500 S&P 500 5251.15 +2.66 +0.05%
I:COMP NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX 16378.285511 -21.24 -0.13%

Meanwhile, a busy week for corporate earnings had a big impact on individual names.

General Motors took a $2.9 billion hit related to the six-week long United Auto Workers strike, but shares gained after earnings and revenue topped Wall Street expectations.

Google-parent Alphabet fell after reporting mixed quarterly results. The search giant said higher ad sales were offset by rising costs.

Elsewhere, Beyond Meat posted its first quarterly profit, but shares were hit hard as the company said it will spend more and give discounts. Additionally, the lockup period expired on Tuesday, meaning early investors could begin sell their shares.

Grubhub was under pressure after reporting disappointing third-quarter sales and forecasting fourth-quarter sales well below expectations.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
GM GENERAL MOTORS CO. 45.34 +0.74 +1.66%
GOOGL ALPHABET INC. 150.87 +0.20 +0.13%
BYND BEYOND MEAT INC. 8.46 +0.17 +2.05%
GRUB n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

In other news, Boeing shares gained ground after CEO Dennis Muilenberg faced a grilling on Capitol Hill over what and when the aviation giant knew about the problems with its MCAS stall-prevention software that led to two fatal accidents.

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Fiat Chrysler rallied after The Wall Street Journal reported it's in talks with Peugeot-parent PSA to form a $50 billion auto behemoth in an all stock deal.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
BA THE BOEING CO. 191.95 +4.45 +2.37%
FCAU n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Looking at Treasurys, light buying pushed the 10-year yield down 1.8 basis points at 1.835 percent.

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Ken Martin and the Associated Press contributed to this article.