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Here's your midday brief for Wednesday, September 17th. I'm Zoe Colkin for the Wall Street Journal.

The Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates today amid disagreements over policy and a succession battle.

Investors expect the Fed to announce a quarter point cut at 2 p.m. Eastern. An analyst will be watching whether Fed Chair

Jerome Powell and his colleagues, pencil and a total of three rate cuts this year, or stick

with the two that a slim majority anticipated when the labor market looked surdier in June.

Home building slowed in the U.S. last month as mortgage rates remained high, and building

materials prices remained uncertain. Housing

starts, a gauge of new residential construction, declined more than expected in August. According to the

Commerce Department, starts fell to 1.307 million. Starts were 6% lower than a year earlier. And Eli Lilly

said that new data from its phase three trial of its investigational

diabetes pill has shown superior results when compared to Novo Nordisk's oral semi-glutide.

The pharmaceutical giant said the drug demonstrated greater improvements in blood sugar levels,

known as A1C, and greater weight loss. Last month, Lilly said a third late-stage study of the experimental anti-obesity pill

hit its key goals, paving the way for the drug maker to begin regulatory submissions.

Heads up, an artificial intelligence tool helped us make this episode by creating summaries

that were based on WSJ reporting, and then reviewed and adapted by an editor. We'll have more coverage of the day's news on the WSJ reporting and then reviewed and adapted by an editor.

We'll have more coverage of the day's news on the WSJ's What's News podcast.

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trusted app.

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