US STOCKS-Tech majors drag on S&P 500, Nasdaq as Fed's rate verdict looms

For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window.

Updates with mid-session prices

By Shashwat Chauhan and Sukriti Gupta

Jan 29 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq slipped on Wednesday, as losses in tech heavyweights Apple and Nvidia pressured broader gains and cautious investors braced for the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision, expected later in the day.

Markets widely expect the central bank to hold its lending rate steady in its decision, which is due at 2 p.m. ET.

"This is one of the least interesting Fed meetings that we've had in quite some time. Market expectations are totally nil for today and I just don't expect to hear anything that is going to move the needle," said Mike Dickson, head of research at Horizon Investments.

At 11:23 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 18.05 points, or 0.04%, to 44,868.40, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 21.63 points, or 0.36%, to 6,046.03, and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC lost 136.74 points, or 0.69%, to 19,596.84.

Seven of the 11 S&P 500 sectors were trading higher, although information technology .SPLRCT dropped 1.4%, overshadowing gains.

Nvidia NVDA.O fell 4.6% after rising close to 9% on Tuesday. Its shares were hammered on Monday, after Chinese startup DeepSeek launched AI models it said were cost-effective and ran on less advanced chips compared to OpenAI.

"Nvidia was priced to perfection... you're going to see some continued pockets of volatility as this theme evolves," Dickson said.

Apple AAPL.O shed 0.6% after brokerage Oppenheimer downgraded its rating to "perform" from "outperform". The iPhone maker is scheduled to report quarterly earnings later this week.

The Nasdaq .IXIC jumped 2% in the previous session, while the S&P 500 .SPX rose close to 1%, as some artificial intelligence-linked tech shares pared back some losses.

Earnings from Magnificent 7 stocks Microsoft MSFT.O, Facebook-parent Meta META.O and Tesla TSLA.O are expected after markets close.

Meanwhile, T-Mobile TMUS.O added 8.7% after the company forecast stronger-than-expected annual subscriber growth driven by increased demand for its affordable premium 5G plans.

Danaher DHR.N shed 8.6% after the life sciences company missed estimates for fourth-quarter profit, while cybersecurity and cloud services company F5 FFIV.O jumped 10.7% after forecasting second-quarter revenue above estimates and posting a first-quarter revenue beat.

Of the 112 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings so far, 75.9% reported numbers above analyst expectations, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Shares of semiconductor firms and related equipment makers received a boost after Dutch firm ASML ASML.AS reported fourth-quarter bookings of 7.09 billion euros ($7.39 billion), far exceeding expectations.

Most were off session highs, with KLA Corp KLAC.O, Applied Materials AMAT.O, Lam Research LRCX.O and Micron Technology MU.O last up around 1% each.

Markets have been on edge due to worries around U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed tariffs, which could exacerbate inflationary pressures and slow the pace of rate cuts.

The December reading of the personal consumption expenditures price index, a crucial metric in assessing the inflation trajectory, is due on Friday.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.03-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, while declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.27-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 28 new 52-week highs and three new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 52 new highs and 76 new lows.

($1 = 0.9628 euros)