NEW YORK: US stocks opened modestly higher Tuesday amid a batch of company earnings reports and as investors awaited the start of a two-day Federal Reserve meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 18.81 points (0.15 percent) to 12,498.76 in early trade.
The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite gained 3.89 points (0.14 percent) at 2,829.77 and the S&P 500, a broad measure of the markets, added 3.62 points (0.27 percent) at 1,338.87.
The Federal Reserve's top policy panel will weigh whether the economic recovery can sustain itself with less central bank stimulus.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) itself is expected to lower its growth forecasts during the meeting.
It is widely expected to announce Wednesday after the meeting that it will maintain ultra-low interest rates to support the recovery.
Fed chairman Ben Bernanke will hold his first post-FOMC press conference, the first for any Fed chairman.
"Tomorrow brings the FOMC decision and the highly anticipated press conference to discuss it. Everybody knows that and is everybody is waiting for that," said Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com.
"Today is a 'tweener' day if there ever was one, so it wouldn't surprise us if the same wait-and-see attitude permeated the market" as it did Monday, he said.
US stocks traded mixed Monday in weak trade. The Dow dropped 0.21 percent and the S&P 500 fell 0.16 percent, while the Nasdaq gained 0.20 percent.
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