us stock indexes opened lower on wednesday after adp posted strongerthanexpected job growth in the private sector while traders await the federal reserves monetary policy decision later in the session on tuesday the dow jones industrial average fell 80 points or 024 to 32653 the sp 500 declined 16 points or 041 to 3856 and the nasdaq composite dropped 97 points or 089 to 10891 the nasdaq composite is up 55 from its 2022 closing low but remains down 304 for the year to date us equity indexes opened lower after payroll services firm adp said wednesday that the private sector added 239000 jobs in october economists polled by the wall street journal earlier forecasted an increase of 195000 jobs meanwhile investors have priced in another 75 basis point benchmark interest rate hike by the fed on wednesday the fourth such chunky rise in a row however stocks have rallied off recent lows on hopes chairman jerome powell may signal the pace of rate hikes may slow from hereon movement in the expected trajectory of borrowing costs have been a major driver of stocks in 2022 in its battle to combat inflation running at 40year highs the fed has raised interest rates from zero in february to a range of 3 to 325 a tightening of liquidity that dragged the sp 500 index down 191 for the year to date investors are waiting for clues from the federal reserve about the path of rate rises and in the meantime a slightly more wary mood has settled on the markets said susannah streeter senior investment and markets analyst at hargreaves lansdown the fed is expected to bring in another supersize rate hike of 075 but that has been priced in instead it is the words that powell chooses to use about the economic outlook and what the future may hold which are set to be market movers said streeter in a morning note many analysts are warning that equity bulls may have become over optimistic that powell is about to signal a less hawkish stance particularly given how sticky inflation remains and how relatively robust the us jobs market is markets have been reacting to dovish expectations for wednesdays fomc which i have argued are wrong based on us economic data out tuesday jolts manufacturing pmi there is no way for the federal reserve to turn dovish the labor market is still strong and manufacturing is still slightly expanding said stephen innes managing partner at spi asset management even if we see the fed slow the pace of hikes they are still hiking the policy is still highly restrictive frontend rates will still get worse before they get better and risks of higher terminal rates are still very acute sure we could see a knee jerk higher on stocks via a lower fed glide path but will it be sustainable he added helping support stocks was a wellreceived earnings report from chipmaker amd amd delivered after tuesdays closing bell companies reporting on wednesday include paramount global para zillow z and ebay ebay meanwhile in china investors continued to bet on rumors that beijing was considering relaxing its covid19 lockdown policy the hang seng china enterprises index  which closed on monday at a 17year low having fallen about 40 so far in 2022 took its twoday rebound to 82