Stocks were choppy in the lead-up to today's Federal Reserve policy announcement. While the main indexes made a confident move higher after the central bank cut rates by a half-percentage point, a late-day burst of selling pressure sent them into the red at the close.

Some options traders are leaving nothing to chance ahead of Wednesday’s Federal Reserve policy meeting. The price of a strategy that would pay off if stocks see a sharp swing in either direction on “Fed day” has risen to its highest level since the run-up to the central bank’s March 2023 meeting.

U.S. stocks closed with modest losses on Wednesday, well off their intraday highs, after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 50 basis points, the high side of estimates for its first cut in more than four years.