US close: Stocks higher as attention turns to FOMC meeting

dl nyse new york stock exchange new york city nyc wall street wall st nasdaq markets trading finance unsplash — Sharecast / David Vives via Unsplash

Major indices delivered a positive performance on Tuesday as market participants patiently awaited the outcome of the Federal Reserve Open Markets Committee's March policy meeting.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.83% at 39,110.76, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.56% to 5,178.51 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.39% firmer at 16,166.79.

The Dow closed 320.33 points higher on Tuesday, extending gains recorded in the previous session.

Investors now turn their attention to Washington as the Federal Reserve kicked off its two-day policy meeting, with a recent batch of concerning inflation figures leaving traders fearful that the central bank may look to hold benchmark interest rates at a higher level for longer than previously expected.

Also in focus, Wall Street darling Nvidia shares traded higher on Tuesday following its first-ever GTC Conference, during which chief executive Jensen Huang unveiled its latest artificial intelligence chip, Blackwell, which he claimed was significantly more powerful than its current chips.

On the macro front, both building permits and housing starts surged across the US in February, according to the Census Bureau, beating forecasts. Building permits rose 1.9% to a seasonally adjusted annualised rate of 1.51m in February, exceeding market forecasts for a reading of 1.49m to hit the highest level seen since August 2023. Housing starts soared 10.7% month-on-month to an annualised rate of 1.52m, after falling by 12.3% in January, smashing expectations for a reading of 1.42m, amid a persistent shortage of previously owned houses.

No major corporate earnings were released on Tuesday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Home Depot Inc. (HD) $379.41 2.02%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $282.87 1.54%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $176.08 1.36%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $493.32 1.29%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $99.96 1.24%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $388.66 1.12%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $421.41 0.98%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $193.34 0.86%
Visa Inc. (V) $287.35 0.81%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $156.62 0.78%