Mid-Day Market Update

Northern, WI 9/21/2011 (PennyPayDay) – Stocks are turning in a relatively lackluster performance in early trading on Wednesday, as traders look ahead to the Federal Reserve's policy statement. While the tech-heavy Nasdaq has moved firmly into positive territory, the Dow and the S&P 500 are lingering near the unchanged line.

Currently, the major averages are all positive, although the Nasdaq is outperforming its counterparts by a notable margin. The Nasdaq is up 16.37 points 0.6 percent at 2,606.61, while the Dow is up 6.81 points or 0.1 percent at 11,415.47 and the S&P 500 is up 1.00 point or 0.1 percent at 1,203.09.

The choppy trading comes as investors seem reluctant to make any significant moves ahead of the Fed's announcement at about 2:15 pm ET, with the central bank widely expected to announce further measures to stimulate the economy.

The Fed is reportedly considering reinstituting a policy known as Operation Twist, which involves replacing short-term securities in its bond portfolio with longer-term securities in an effort to push already low long-term interest rates even lower.

Despite the lack of direction being shown by the broader markets, substantial weakness has emerged among railroad stocks. The Dow Jones Railroads Index has plunged by 4.9 percent amid steep losses by CSX Corp. (CSX) and Norfolk Southern (NSC).

While trucking and steel stocks are also seeing early weakness, considerable strength is visible among software and biotechnology stocks.

Oracle (ORCL) is leading the software sector higher after reporting first quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates. The business software giant also forecast second quarter earnings in line with analyst estimates. Shares of Oracle are up by 6.8 percent after reaching a nearly-two month intraday high.

Adobe Systems (ADBE) is also trading higher after the publishing and design software maker reported better than expected third quarter earnings and forecast fourth quarter results towards the high end of analyst estimates.

On the other hand, Microsoft (MSFT) is moving to the downside after the software giant announced a 25 percent increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.20 per share. The company also said it is continuing its $40 billion share repurchase program.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region closed mostly higher on Wednesday, although Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index bucked the uptrend. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index edged up by 0.2 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index surged up by 2.7 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets are moving to the downside on the day. While U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index has fallen by 0.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index are down by 0.9 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.

In the bond market, treasuries are seeing modest strength ahead of the announcement from the Fed. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 1.2 basis points at 1.935 percent.

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