Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is known for providing clear signals about the central bank’s next interest rate move in order to avoid roiling markets. But Wall Street was mostly clueless this week when it came to predicting how big a rate cut the Fed would deliver on Wednesday.

Borrowing rates have already fallen in anticipation of a deeper cut in rates. The average 30-year mortgage rate dropped to 6.2% last week to the lowest level in 18 months and down from a peak of nearly 7.8%, according to the mortgage giant Freddie Mac.

U.S. stock indexes remained stuck in place as Wall Street made few big moves ahead of what’s expected to be the first cut to interest rates in more than four years.