US open: Positive open as stocks attempt to recover from prior day's beating

Wall Street saw some positive trading at the open on Tuesday following the heavy losses sustained during the previous session, with investors exercising extreme caution ahead of Wednesday's Federal Reserve policy announcement.

As of 1525 GMT, the Dow Jones was 1.08% stronger at 23,847.05, while the S&P 500 had picked up 0.72% to 2,564.29 as the Nasdaq traded 0.79% firmer at 6,807.02.

Over in Asia, stocks slumped as a speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping failed to boost sentiment.

In an address to commemorate the 40th anniversary of China's economic reforms, Xi called for China to "stay the course" on its current path of reform and said "no one is in a position to dictate to the Chinese people what should or should not be done". However, market participants were left disappointed after Xi failed to mention any new reforms or stimulus.

Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said: "There is a lot of pessimism in the markets right now and while the Fed - or more accurately, its chairman - may have been the trigger, I wonder whether they may be nothing more than a scapegoat, with his comments being the straw that broke the camel’s back. Powell has since dialled back - or clarified - his hawkish views on interest rates and yet, the sell-off continues."

Elsewhere, Donald Trump publicly called upon the Federal Reserve to refrain from upping interest rates during its two-day meeting that kicks off today.

Trump took to Twitter to ensure the Fed would not make "yet another mistake".

"I hope the people over at the Fed will read today’s Wall Street Journal Editorial before they make yet another mistake," said the President.

"Also, don’t let the market become any more illiquid than it already is. Stop with the 50 B’s. Feel the market, don’t just go by meaningless numbers. Good luck!"

In currency news, the USD was 0.34% weaker against the GBP at 0.7897.

Energy-related shares were feeling the pinch as oil prices slid amid supply glut worries, with West Texas Intermediate down 2.69% to $48.54 a barrel and Brent crude 1.91% weaker at $58.47.

In other corporate news, software company Oracle picked up 2.47% in early trade after better-than-expected third-quarter earnings late on Monday.

Shares in Olive Garden parent Darden Restaurants gained 3.16% at the bell following the release of its second-quarter numbers.

On the data, US housing starts rose more than expected last month, according to data released by the Commerce Department on Tuesday.

Housing starts were up 3.2% to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 1.256m from October's revised 1.217m. Analysts had pencilled in a level of 1.225m.

On the year, however, housing starts were down 3.6% from November 2017's rate of 1.303m.

Meanwhile, single-family housing starts fell 4.6% to 824,000 last month from October's revised 864,000.

Building permits were up 5% from October's revised rate of 1.265m to 1.328m, and 0.4% above November 2017's level of 1.323m. Privately-owned housing completions nudged up 0.4% from October's revised 1.095m to 1.099m, but were down 3.9% on the year.