US stocks close higher amid trade hopes, Fed meeting

New York: US stocks ended higher as hopes of easing trade tensions cheered on Wall Street ahead of the upcoming G20 Summit in Japan. Investors have closely followed up on US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting starting Tuesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Tuesday rose 353.01 points, or 1.35 per cent, to 26,465.54. The S&P 500 was up 28.08 points, or 0.97 per cent, to 2,917.75, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 108.86 points, or 1.39 per cent, to 7,953.88. Eight of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors traded higher around market close, with the industrials sector up nearly 1.9 per cent, leading the gainers.

The majority of the Dow 30 blue-chip stocks extended gains, with Boeing and Intel rallying 5.37 percent and 2.69 percent, respectively, leading the gainers. Sensitive to global trade, the two firms are widely seen as key bellwethers of real-time impacts of US-China trade developments on stock markets.

Yet shares of Facebook fell nearly 0.29 per cent, after the social media giant announced on Tuesday a plan to create a new digital currency. The cryptocurrency is scheduled to be launched in the first half of 2020, which will allow Facebook to spot a niche in e-commerce and online payments.

The US central bank’s two-day policy meeting is underway until Wednesday, which has fuelled market bets on the Fed’s dovish monetary moves later this year.

Investors and analysts are waiting for the Fed to announce its latest decisions on Wednesday afternoon. Yet the broad market expected the Fed to remain its benchmark interest rates unchanged.

 

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