NEW YORK, March 7 — Wall Street stocks were little changed early today as markets awaited Federal Reserve congressional testimony that will be digested for clues on additional interest rate hikes.

Today will be the first of two hearings involving Fed Chair Jerome Powell, and they come as recent employment and inflation data raised worries that the central bank could enact further, significant rate increases.

Since early last year, the Fed has lifted the benchmark lending rate eight times in hopes of reining in surging inflation.

Powell is expected to keep his options open, saying that there has been some progress in countering price increases, but more action is needed.

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"The market can handle today's testimony so long as the Fed Chair doesn't sound as though he is opening the door to a much higher terminal rate than the market now expects," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.1 percent at 33,403.27.

The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.1 percent to 4,046.48, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.2 percent to 11,698.00.

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Among individual companies, Dick's Sporting Goods surged 7.6 per cent as it reported a solid fourth quarter, including a 5.3 percent rise in comparable store sales.

Facebook parent Meta Platforms advanced 2.2 per cent following a Bloomberg News report that it expects additional job cuts after trimming 13 percent of staff last year. — AFP