U.S. stocks rally ahead of Fed meeting

NEW YORK, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks traded higher in the morning session Monday as Wall Street awaited the Federal Reserve's two-day meeting scheduled to begin Tuesday.

By midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 17.38 points, or 0.07 percent, to 24,346.54. The S&P 500 added 3.89 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,655.39. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 23.92 points, or 0.35 percent, to 6,864.00.

Investors kept a close eye on the Fed's policy meeting, with an updated policy statement set to be released after the conclusion of the meeting on Wednesday.

The central bank is widely expected to deliver its third interest-rate hike for 2017. According to the CME Group's FedWatch tool, market expectations for a Fed rate hike in December already stood at 100 percent.

On the economic front, the number of job openings was little changed at 6.0 million on the last business day of October, the U.S. Labor Department reported Monday.

Meanwhile, investors were still sifting through the country's jobs data for November.

The U.S. Labor Department reported Friday that total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 228,000 in November, beating market consensus of a 190,000-gain. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1 percent.

U.S. stocks rallied on Friday, with both the Dow and the S&P 500 closing at record highs, as investors digested the country's strong jobs report. Enditem