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U.S. stocks open higher amid Fed meeting

Xinhua, May 2, 2017 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks opened higher Tuesday, as U.S. Federal Reserve kicked off its two-day monetary policy meeting.

Investors, however, widely expected the Fed policymakers to hold interest rate steady when the meeting concludes.

According to the CME Group's FedWatch tool, market expectations for a May rate hike were just 4.8 percent.

Meanwhile, traders will also keep a close eye on April's nonfarm payroll reports, which is scheduled to be released on Friday.

"This may be 'Jobs Week,' and this may be 'Fed Week.' Both of those facts of the economic calendar are of headline level importance, and probably, to some degree, reliant upon each other," said Stephen Guilfoyle, the president of Sarge986 LLC, a family run trading operation.

On the earnings front, Apple, Facebook and American International Group are among companies set to report quarterly earnings later this week.

This earnings season has been strong so far. The latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the first quarter of 2017 are expected to rise 13.6 percent year-on-year, while the revenues are forecast to increase 7.1 percent.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 34.85 points, or 0.17 percent, to 20,948.31. The S&P 500 rose 2.95 points, or 0.12 percent, to 2,391.28. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 7.83 points, or 0.13 percent, to 6,099.43. Endi