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U.S. stocks waver amid Fed meeting

Xinhua, May 2, 2017 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks traded in a narrow range on Tuesday, as the U.S. Federal Reserve kicked off its two-day monetary policy meeting.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 23.49 points, or 0.11 percent, to 20,936.95. The S&P 500 ticked up 0.17 points, or 0.01 percent, to 2,388.50. The Nasdaq Composite Index inched up 0.78 points, or 0.01 percent, to 6,092.38.

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 close eye on the April nonfarm payroll report, 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, president of Sarge986 LLC.

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. Endit