NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks climbed early Wednesday as markets awaited a Federal Reserve decision and news conference with updates on the monetary policy and economic outlook.
The US central bank is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged, but markets will be scrutinizing the Fed’s updated economic projections and whether it still expects two interest rate cuts in 2025.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell is expected to again be pressed on how the Trump administration’s aggressive trade policies and tariffs affect the outlook for inflation.
About 20 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.5 percent at 41,769.15.
Wall Street set for lower open, Fed meet in focus
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.4 percent to 5,638.03, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.6 percent to 17,604.72.
US stocks retreated Tuesday as worries over the Ukraine and Middle East conflicts contributed to a downcast session, along with a drop in artificial intelligence player Nvidia following a presentation on the company’s latest technology.
Among individual companies, Boeing jumped 6.0 percent early Wednesday as CFO Brian West told a Wall Street conference the company’s efforts to improve plane assembly operations were on track so far in the first quarter as he struck an upbeat tone on the company’s outlook.
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