US open: Stocks cautiously higher following shock BoJ decision

dl exchange place wall st street pl new york city nyc ny nyse stock exchange dow jones sp nasdaq finance dollar dollars us usa united states of america — Exchange PlaceSharecast photo / Josh White

Wall Street stocks were in the green early on Tuesday despite ongoing recessionary concerns and an unexpected move from Japan's central bank.

As of 1525 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.30% at 32,855.75, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.20% to 3,825.46 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.11% to 10,557.50.

The Dow opened 98.21 points higher on Tuesday, taking a bite out of losses registered in the previous session.

Fears that the Federal Reserve may send the US economy into a recession continued to weigh on investor sentiment at the open on Tuesday and all but dashed hopes for a Santa Claus rally.

Also drawing an amount of investor attention, the Bank of Japan shocked markets as it held its benchmark interest rates steady but said it was widening its yield target range. The bank left the policy balance rate unchanged at -1.0% and the 10-year yield control target unchanged at zero. However, it also announced a surprise tweak to the yield control curve policy meaning that it will now allow the 10-year bond yield to fluctuate in a range of 0.5% above or below the target of zero, versus 0.25% previously.

On the macro front, the pace of US homebuilding activity held up better than expected last month, according to the latest government data revealed, but the finer details pointed to a further slowdown ahead.

According to the Department of Commerce, in seasonally adjusted terms, the annual rate of housing starts slipped from 1.434m in October to 1.427m for November. Economists had been expecting an annualised rate of 1.404m for November, down from a preliminary estimate of 1.425m for October. Housing permits, on the other hand, fell by 11.2% month-on-month to reach an annual clip of 1.342m (consensus: 1.497m)

In the corporate space, Amazon avoided a potentially significant fine after reaching an agreement with the European Commission over competition concerns.

General Mills, Nike, and FedEx will all report earnings on Tuesday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $87.10 1.54%
Boeing Co. (BA) $187.81 1.15%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $185.60 1.14%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $131.41 1.04%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $49.72 0.79%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $171.18 0.77%
American Express Co. (AXP) $145.90 0.61%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $233.46 0.51%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $139.52 0.47%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $109.92 0.44%