U.S. stocks are rising as investors await the Fed's latest rate decision
Investing.com — U.S. stocks are rising in early trading on Wednesday as investors await the latest Federal Reserve decision on interest rates later today.
At 09:51 ET (13:51 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 44 points or 0.1%, while the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and the NASDAQ Composite was up 0.5%.
The main indices on Wall Street closed the month higher for the day, attempting to regain their footing at the end of a bruising October.
The blue chip Dow fell 1.4% and the broad-based S&P dropped 2.2% last month, resulting in their first three-month losing streak since March 2020. The tech-heavy fell 2.8%, its worst October since 2018.
Investors have been worried about the potential for the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates at elevated levels, or even higher, for longer than previously expected, especially in the wake of last week’s strong third quarter economic growth estimates.
The U.S. central bank concludes its latest two-day policy meeting later in the session. Investors widely expect the Fed to hold rates steady, and comments from Chair Jerome Powell will again take the spotlight as investors parse every word to gauge if another interest rate increase is on the cards later this year.
There are plenty of economic releases to digest Wednesday, including the October ADP private sector payrolls, which came in at a lower than expected 113,000 though still stronger than the last reading. September JOLTS job openings data are due out later in the morning.
These come ahead of Friday’s jobs report which will give the Fed and investors a new detailed reading on the state of the still-tight labor market.
Investors will also keep an eye on the country’s future refinancing plans, with yields close to historic highs,
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