US open: Stocks higher ahead of FOMC 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 traded higher early on Wednesday as market participants awaited the outcome of the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting.

As of 1520 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.62% at 30,895.26, while the S&P 500 opened 0.66% firmer at 3,881.56 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.37% stronger at 11,467.72.

The Dow opened 189.03 points higher on Wednesday, reclaiming some of the losses recorded in the previous session.

Wednesday's primary focus will be the central bank's interest rate decision, due out at 1900 BST with the FOMC economic projections, while the Fed will hold a press conference at 1930 BST.

Investors widely expect the Federal Reserve to announce another 75 basis point interest rate hike, with bets for a larger 100 basis point increase narrowing after last week's red hot CPI reading.

Also drawing an amount of investor attention was news that Russian president Vladimir Putin was mobilising more troops for neighbouring Ukraine as he said the West wanted to destroy his country ahead of announced referendum plans on Ukraine joining Russia within days.

Putin's speech sent oil prices sharply higher, with the West Texas Intermediate up 1.37% at $85.09 per barrel and Brent crude 1.48% higher at $91.96 a barrel.

Elsewhere on the macro front, US mortgage applications increased by 3.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis in the week ended 16 September, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, with the refinance index rising 10% from the previous week, while the seasonally adjusted purchase index increased 1% from one week earlier.

On another note, US existing home sales dipped 0.4% to 4.8m in August, according to the National Association of Realtors, following a downwardly revised 5.7% drop in July for the lowest reading since May 2020 and a seventh consecutive monthly drop.

In the corporate space, consumer foods manufacturer General Mills said net sales had increased 4% to $4.7bn, with organic net sales up 10% year-on-year, leading the group to raise its full-year outlook.

Still to come, Lennar and Trip.com will publish their latest set of earnings after the close.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Walmart Inc. (WMT) $136.16 1.96%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $278.98 1.75%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $166.71 1.05%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $34.33 1.01%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $157.81 0.98%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $244.82 0.98%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $60.47 0.95%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $229.80 0.92%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $127.45 0.91%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $29.22 0.88%