NEW YORK, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks were flat on Tuesday, as the market awaited the Federal Reserve's key interest rate cut decision.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 15.90 points, or 0.04 percent, to 41,606.18. The S&P 500 added 1.49 points, or 0.03 percent, to 5,634.58. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 35.93 points, or 0.20 percent, to 17,628.06.

Six of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in green, with energy and consumer discretionary leading the gainers by going up 1.41 percent and 0.62 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, health and consumer staples led the laggards by dropping 1.01 percent and 0.93 percent, respectively.

Wall Street is poised for the Fed's long-awaited interest rate cut scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, a decision that could enhance earnings growth for companies amid high borrowing costs and elevated inflation. The Fed initiated its aggressive rate increase campaign in March 2022.

Recent U.S. retail sales figures have suggested a healthy consumer environment. Retail sales in August increased by 0.1 percent, contrary to economists' predictions of a 0.2 percent drop, as reported by Dow Jones. When excluding automobiles, the increase also registered at 0.1 percent, just falling short of the anticipated 0.2 percent rise.

While investors are looking forward to the rate cut on Wednesday, opinions remain mixed regarding the magnitude of the potential decrease.

Traders are currently factoring in a 63 percent likelihood that the central bank will lower rates by 50 basis points, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool. This mark has risen from approximately 47 percent on Friday, but is slightly below the 67 percent forecasted earlier on Tuesday.

According to Sonu Varghese, global macro strategist at Carson Group, the Fed will more than likely exercise a 50-basis-point rate cut on Wednesday.

"Markets currently expect a 50 bps cut by the Fed at their September meeting, and it's very unlikely the Fed will surprise investors by going 25 bps," he wrote. "We expect the Fed to cut 50 bps to get ahead of downward trending labor market data, even as the inflation fight looks done." Enditem

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