Fed rate decision, stock market updates: Dow, Nasdaq, S&P 500 slip, Nvidia falls as Fed leaves rates unchanged

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq treaded water on Wednesday, as losses in tech heavyweights Apple and Nvidia limited broader gains and investor focus turned to the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision,

The Nasdaq and other major indices declined following the Federal Reserve’s first meeting of the year, with the tech-heavy index falling 1.1% by the afternoon as investors digested the central bank’s cautious stance on interest rates.

If gains hold, this will be the Dow and S&P’s best January returns since 2019 and the best inauguration month return since January 2013, at the start of former President Barack Obama’s second term. The index now trades just 0.2% below its all-time high of 6,128, set last Friday.

Shares of Nvidia ( NVDA -5.29%) were sinking Wednesday. The company's stock fell 6.2% as of 2:20 p.m. ET, but lost as much as 6.9% earlier in the day. The move comes as the S&P 500 ( ^GSPC -0.39%) and Nasdaq Composite ( ^IXIC -0.