U.S. stocks mildly higher ahead of Fed statement

U.S. stocks pared early losses and turned higher in the morning session on Wednesday, as investors awaited the U.S. Federal Reserve policy announcement while digesting the newly-released economic data.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 16.81 points, or 0.10 percent, to 17,268.34. The S&P 500 gained 1.97 points, or 0.10 percent, to 2,017.90. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 9.76 points, or 0.21 percent, to 4,738.42.

The Fed is due to wrap up its two-day meeting later Wednesday with the release of policy statement. Most analysts expected the U.S. central bank will not raise its interest rates at this meeting.

"I don't think too many folks are looking for an increase in the Fed Funds Rate at this time, and if they were, the disastrous Retail Sales revision that we saw yesterday probably put the kibosh on that idea," Stephen Guilfoyle, managing director at Deep Value, said Wednesday.

On the economic front, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all urban consumers was declined 0.2 percent in February on a seasonally adjusted basis, on par with market estimates, the U.S. Labor Department said Wednesday.

The index for all items less food and energy, often referred to as the core CPI, rose 0.3 percent in February, the same increase as the prior month.

Meanwhile, privately-owned housing starts in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.178 million units, 5.2 percent above the revised January estimate, according to the U.S. Commerce Department Wednesday. Endit