By Anvee Bhutani

U.S. stocks were modestly lower Wednesday as investors parsed comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh for clues about the path of interest rates.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 13.96 points, or 0.03%, to 52305.24. The S&P 500 slipped 16.13 points, or 0.22%, to 7483.23, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 173.69 points, or 0.66%, to 26040.03. According to preliminary data, there were 1555 advancing issues and 1203 declining issues on the NYSE.

Warsh, speaking at a European Central Bank symposium in Portugal, declined to say whether the Fed would raise rates at its next meeting. He called upcoming deliberations a "good family fight." He said inflationary risks have eased since the Fed's last meeting, and suggested that artificial intelligence-driven productivity gains could have "huge implications for monetary policy."

Markets are pricing in less than a 30% chance of a rate increase this month. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said on Fox Business that raising rates in a "supply-driven boom" would be "a macroeconomic mistake." Warsh also offered his first reaction to this week's Supreme Court ruling blocking President Trump from firing Fed governor Lisa Cook, saying the decision reaffirmed that the central bank acts independently of politics.

Private-sector hiring grew slightly below expectations in June, with companies adding a net 98,000 jobs, below economist expectations of 110,000, according to ADP. The data comes ahead of Thursday's closely watched government payrolls report.

General Mills rose 8.5% after the Cheerios maker said it's seeing payoff after a year of cutting base prices. Nike gained 4.9% despite what it called an increasingly challenging operating environment and continued sales weakness in China. Constellation Brands lost 1.6% after its new chief executive said beer consumption is showing early signs of recovery, boosted by the FIFA World Cup and the New York Knicks championship.

Alcoa fell 8.9% after the aluminum producer said it would pay up to $5.6 billion for bauxite, alumina and aluminum assets from Australia's South32. The deal comes as aluminum prices have dropped 18% from near-record highs reached when fighting in the Persian Gulf blocked the region's smelters from global markets.

Meta jumped 8.8% after Bloomberg reported the company is building a cloud business to sell its excess AI computing power. Getty Images and Shutterstock both fell after Getty said it plans to terminate a merger after a U.K. antitrust regulator said Shutterstock must sell its editorial business.

Global equity fundraising topped $729.4 billion in the first half of 2026, boosted by SpaceX's record IPO, marking the second-best start to the year on record, according to Mergermarket data. Tech accounted for around $302 billion of that total.

Traders remained on high alert for potential currency intervention in Japan after the yen hit a fresh 40-year low against the dollar, trading at 162.58 yen per dollar. Brent crude was down $1.38, or 1.89% to $71.57 per barrel.

Yields on U.S. Treasury bonds increased. The 10-year yield rose 0.054 percentage point to 4.474%. The euro was last seen at $1.14. Gold gained 1.13% to $4068.30 per troy ounce.

Looking ahead, Thursday brings the June jobs report, which investors will parse for clues about the Fed's next move on rates. Markets are closed Friday in observance of Independence Day.

Write to Anvee Bhutani at anvee.bhutani@wsj.com