US open: Stocks gain amid well-received earnings; Dow breaches 21,700

US stocks rose in early trade on Wednesday thanks to some well-received corporate news, as investors looked ahead to a rate announcement from the Federal Reserve.

At 1530 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.5% to 21,726.73 - breaching the 21,700 level for the first time - the S&P 500 was 0.1% firmer at 2,478.94 and the Nasdaq was up 0.3% at 6,428.44.

The jump in the Dow was sparked by a strong set of quarterly earnings for Boeing, which surged 16%.

Although the earnings calendar was busy, investors were also looking ahead to the FOMC rate announcement at 1900 BST.

Goldman Sachs said it does not expect any policy changes at the July meeting and only limited changes to the statement, which will likely upgrade the description of job growth, but might also recognise that inflation has declined further. In addition, it reckons the statement is likely to acknowledge that the balance sheet announcement is now closer to hand, and GS continues to expect the FOMC to announce the start of its balance sheet normalisation in September.

On the data front, figures from the Commerce Department showed new home sales rose 0.8% from May's downwardly-revised 605,000 to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 610,000. This was slightly below expectations for an increase to 615,000.

Meanwhile, the median price of new houses sold in June was $310,800, down 3.3% from a year ago.

The seasonally-adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of June was 272,000, which represents a supply of 5.4 months at the current sales rate.

In corporate news, chip maker Advanced Micro Devices surged in pre-market trade after it released better-than-expected earnings late on Tuesday and lifted its guidance.

Telecom AT&T and Chipotle Mexican Grill were both higher after stronger-than-forecast earnings late on Tuesday.

On the downside, biotech firm Amgen lost ground despite topping estimates with its second-quarter results and insurer Anthem retreated after its quarterly earnings beat forecasts but its revenue disappointed.

Ford Motor was on the back foot despite upgrading its earnings forecasts for the year and posting better-than-expected second-quarter numbers, while Coca-Cola was little changed after a second-quarter earnings beat.

Earnings were still due from Facebook after the close