US benchmark equity indexes were lower ahead of Wednesday's close after the Federal Reserve held its benchmark lending rate steady and said inflation remained "somewhat elevated."

The Nasdaq Composite was down 0.5% at 19,631.8, while the S&P 500 fell 0.4% to 6,042.1. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2% to 44,763.4. Among sectors, technology saw the steepest decline, while communication services and consumer staples paced the gainers.

The Federal Open Market Committee kept rates at 4.25% to 4.50%, in line with Wall Street's expectations, following three consecutive cuts. The FOMC reiterated that inflation was "somewhat elevated," but removed a reference from its December statement that inflation had made progress toward policymakers' 2% target.

The US two-year yield was up 1.9 basis points at 4.22%, while the 10-year rate was little changed at 4.55%.

Mega-caps Microsoft (MSFT), Meta Platforms (META) and Tesla (TSLA) are due to report results after the closing bell, along with other names such as IBM (IBM) and ServiceNow (NOW).

West Texas Intermediate crude oil decreased 1.3% to $72.84 a barrel.