NEW YORK: The S&P 500 and Dow Jones indexes rose on Wednesday on hopes that the Federal Reserve would continue to keep interest rates low for a prolonged period, while a slide in tech stocks dragged the Nasdaq lower.
The central bank's two-day meeting is its first under a newly adopted framework that promises to shoot for inflation above 2% to make up for periods where it is running below that target.
The Federal Open Market Committee will release its policy statement and economic projections at 2 p.m. ET (1800 GMT), followed by Fed Chair Jerome Powell's virtual news briefing half an hour later.
The Nasdaq flitted between gains and losses in choppy afternoon trading, while the S&P 500 technology subindex fell 0.6%.
Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Facebook Inc and Microsoft Corp fell between 0.6% and 2%, accounting for the biggest drags on the tech-heavy index.
At 12:54 p.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 194.15 points, or 0.69%, at 28,189.75, the S&P 500 was up 8.42 points, or 0.25%, at 3,409.62 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 32.32 points, or 0.29%, at 11,158.00.
Delivery firm FedEx Corp rose 6.1% after reporting a bigger-than-expected quarterly profit, helped in part by price hikes and lower fuel costs.
Eastman Kodak Co jumped 37% after a law firm hired by the photography equipment maker said its chief executive officer's securities transactions around the time the company learned it could receive a $765 million government loan did not violate internal policies.
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