5 things to know before the stock market opens on Wednesday, September 18

Here are five important things investors need to know to start their trading day:

The S&P 500 ended little changed on Tuesday as traders awaited the Federal Reserve’s key interest rate cut decision (details below). The broad market index hit a record high earlier in trading and ended the day just 0.03% lower. Dow Jones Industrial Average down 15.9 points, or 0.04 percent, after also hitting a new record earlier in the session. Nasdaq Composite The S&P 500 and Dow’s record highs come at a historically difficult time for the market, as September was the worst month for the benchmark in 10 years, according to FactSet data. Follow live market updates.

Federal Reserve meetings are typically predictable events, with policymakers announcing their intentions in advance — but There is an air of mystery this time.. Fed watchers are pretty sure there will be some kind of interest rate cutbut they are divided on whether it will be a traditional 25 basis point or 25 basis points cut, or a more dramatic 50 basis points. The Federal Open Market Committee left its benchmark federal funds rate unchanged at a 23-year high of 5.25% to 5.5%, with the last rate hike in July 2023. Markets will also be watching to see what signals meeting participants give about where rates are expected to go from here, as well as informal forecasts for unemployment, gross domestic product and inflation.

Alaska Airlines And Hawaiian Airlines cleared for merger. The Transportation Department said Tuesday that the two carriers can continue with $1.9 billion merger The two airlines said in December, when they announced the merger, that they would retain the value of their frequent flyer programs and maintain some key routes. They would also maintain “essential aviation support” to rural areas, as well as current levels of service on passenger and cargo routes between the Hawaiian islands, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said. The two airlines said in December, when they announced the merger, that they would retain each brand but operate under a single platform.

Technology trading volume has fallen sharply, falling to $544 billion last year after peaking at $1.5 trillion in 2021, according to Dealogic. So far in 2024, tech mergers and acquisitions have reached $465 billion. Now, with the presidential election looming, Big Tech is “at a crossroads” following a drop in deal activity, Sergio Letelier, chief corporate development officer at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, told CNBC’s Jordan Novet. “We don’t know which way policy is going to go,” he said. That’s partly because neither side has offered much clarity on the issue. The Biden administration has discouraged the largest companies from pursuing deals, but the regulatory environment could be poised for a shift with the election.

Snapshot Snap Inc. announced the fifth generation of its Spectacles augmented reality glasses on Tuesday after years of trying to break into consumer hardware. The latest glasses, which can overlay digital graphics onto the physical world, are only available to developers, who must commit to paying $99 a month for a full year if they want to develop any AR apps. Snap also said it is working with ChatGPT maker OpenAI on artificial intelligence tools for the glasses. Snap’s announcement comes days before rival Metadata is expected to unveil its latest hardware. Read more about Both companies are struggling with consumer hardware here..

— CNBC’s Hakyung Kim, Jeff Cox, Leslie Josephs, Jordan Novet and Jonathan Vanian contributed to this report.