U.S. stocks bounce amid Fed meeting

U.S. stocks traded mostly higher on Tuesday, snapping a five-day losing streak, as Wall Street eyed U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day meeting.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 121.96 points, or 0.70 percent, to 17,562.55. The S&P 500 gained 17.26 points, or 0.83 percent, to 2,084.90. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 27.62 points, or 0.55 percent, to 5,067.40.

The Federal Open Market Committee kicked off its meeting on Tuesday, which is the last one before September.

Investors are not expecting any major decisions this week, but they will be looking for hints on the timing for possible interest rate hike. Investors have anticipated September or December is the most likely date for a "liftoff" this year.

On the economic front, the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, showed that the 10-City Composite gained 4.68 percent year over year in May, while the 20- City Composite added 4.94 percent.

U.S. consumer confidence for July came in at 90.9, down from 99. 8 in June and missing expectations, according to the New York- based research group Conference Board Tuesday.

In corporate news, the China-based internet search giant Baidu announced its financial results for the second quarter on Monday. The company reported total quarterly revenues of 2.673 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 38.3 percent from the corresponding period in 2014.

But Baidu gave weaker-than-expected guidance for the third quarter 2015. Shares slumped over 16 percent in the early trading.

U.S. stocks fell for the fifth straight session on Monday as a broad-based sell-off in overseas stock markets weighed on Wall Street sentiment. Endite