Stock market today: Dow in longest losing streak since 1978; Fed decision looms By

-- The Stock Index Futures PositionsDow closed lower for the ninth day on Tuesday, suffering its longest losing streak since 1978 as the Federal Reserve kicked off its last meeting of the year.  

At 4:00 p.m. ET (21:00 GMT), the fell 266 points, or 0.6%, the index fell 0.4%, and the slipped 0.3%.  

Retail sales surprise to upside as Fed off meeting

rose by 0.7% in November, above the 0.6% forecast, underscores that the US economy is still growing at a healthy pace even with higher interest rates.

The central bank is widely expected to by 25 basis points at the conclusion of a two-day meeting on Wednesday.

While a rate cut appears to be largely priced in by markets, especially considering recent gains in Wall Street, focus will be chiefly on the central bank’s outlook on rates.

Investors are bracing for the Fed to signal a slower pace of easing in 2025 amid growing signs of sticky inflation and strength in the labor market- two major points of contention for the Fed.

Goldman Sachs analysts said in a recent note that they no longer expect a rate cut in January, and that the bank will cut rates by a slightly slower pace in the coming year. 

Traders were seen pricing in a 81.9% chance the Fed will leave rates unchanged in January, showed. 

Tech sector struggles after recent melt up as Nvidia falls deeper into correction

Tech took a breather Tuesday as NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:) dropped 1% to fall deeper into correction territory following the chipmaker's 10% slump from its more recent high. 

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:), meanwhile, sidestepped the broader weakness after (NYSE:) upgraded the EV maker to outperform and hiked its price target on the stock to $515 from $230, citing a boost from loosening regulations .

(NYSE:) stock rose 4.6% after the drugmaker said it was expecting its 2025 profits to be nearly in line with expectations, with the company reining in costs and cutting debt by shedding non-core businesses as its rebuilds itself post a sharp slump in sales of COVID-19 products.

Crypto-focused stocks including (NASDAQ:) and MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:) ended lower as bitcoin retreat from its record high after topping $108,000. 

(Peter Nurse, Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)

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