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1st LD Writethru: U.S. stocks bounce back as Fed meeting begins

Xinhua, January 27, 2016 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks rebounded strongly amid oil recovery Tuesday, as Wall Street followed closely the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 282.01 points, or 1.78 percent, to 16,167.23. The S&P 500 gained 26.55 points, or 1.41 percent, to 1,903.63. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 49.18 points, or 1.09 percent, to 4,567.67.

The Federal Open Market Committee began its monetary policy meeting on Tuesday and will release a statement on Wednesday afternoon.

Analysts predicted that the Fed won't take any rate action at this meeting amid oil weakness. However, investors will look into the statement for further clues on the economic environment and the future path of tightening.

The volatility in oil prices has dominated market sentiment recently. Oil prices, which have plummeted about 17 percent since the beginning of the year, jumped over 3 percent Tuesday.

On Monday, oil prices tumbled more than 5 percent on profit taking after Friday's surge, as Iraq announced record-high oil production.

On the economic front, U.S. consumer confidence also came out positive. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index now stands at 98.1 in January, up from 96.3 in December and above market consensus of 96.0.

In corporate news, shares of Johnson & Johnson surged 4.96 percent to 101.18 U.S. dollars apiece Tuesday after the company delivered quarterly earnings above expectations but revenues shy of forecast.

Before Tuesday's opening bell, the diversified healthcare company announced sales of 17.8 billion dollars for the fourth quarter of 2015. Its net earnings and diluted earnings per share for the fourth quarter of 2015 were 3.2 billion dollars and 1.15 dollars, respectively.

Shares of 3M soared 5.24 percent to 144.78 dollars apiece Tuesday after reporting quarterly results that beat market estimates.

Overseas, Chinese shares retreated from a two-day rally to fall below the 2,800 mark on Tuesday, hitting its lowest since December 2014. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index plunged 6.42 percent to close at 2,749.79 points.

European equities ended higher Tuesday. German benchmark DAX index at Frankfurt Stock Exchange increased 0.89 percent, while British benchmark FTSE 100 Index added 0.59 percent. Enditem