Wall Street was higher in early afternoon trading on Thursday as Apple and biotech shares lifted the market ahead of the crucial Federal Reserve meeting next week. US stocks have been volatile for the past few weeks since China devalued its currency in August and the impact of a slowdown in the region on global growth rattled investors. The S&P 500 has seen moves of about 1 percent in the past few weeks.
"Volatility is here to stay for the rest of the fourth quarter because even if the Fed doesn't raise rates next week, it is signalling that there is weakness in the economy," said Mohannad Aama, managing director at Beam Capital Management in New York. Apple's 2.1 percent rise gave the biggest boost to the three major indexes a day after the iPhone maker unveiled new offerings. Gilead's 4 percent was the second-biggest boost on the S&P and the Nasdaq. The Nasdaq biotechnology index was up about 2 percent. US Bank Wealth Management said equities will remain range-bound until the September meeting, after which investor focus will quickly shift toward third-quarter earnings and the outlook for 2016.
"Earnings growth is paramount to supporting higher stock prices." At 12:50 ET (1650 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average was up 93.24 points, or 0.57 percent, at 16,346.81, the S&P 500 was up 12.42 points, or 0.64 percent, at 1,954.46 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 43.71 points, or 0.92 percent, at 4,800.24. Nine of the 10 major S&P sectors were higher with the health index's 0.95 percent rise leading the advancers.