New Delhi, Sept. 17 -- U.S. stocks are hanging around their record heights on Tuesday as the countdown ticks toward what Wall Street expects will be the first cut of the year to interest rates by the Federal Reserve.

The S&P 500 edged up by 0.1%, coming off its latest all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 52 points, or 0.1%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% higher.

Stocks have run to records on expectations that the Fed will announce the first of many cuts to rates on Wednesday afternoon in hopes of giving the economy a boost. The job market has slowed so much that traders believe Fed officials see it as the bigger danger for the economy now than the threat of higher inflation because of P...