LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Wall Street was trading higher as investors eyed the start of the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting and earnings from the likes of Alphabet and Microsoft.
At 1645 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was edging up 0.19% to 35,479.54, the S&P 500 was ahead by 0.30% to 4,568.93 and the Nasdaq Composite was climbing 0.70% to 14,157.66.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures were 1.0% higher alongside at $79.55 a barrel on the NYMEX.

"The enthusiasm [from China's Politburo meeting] hasn't filtered through to Europe and the US though, perhaps due to the lack of detail currently on the stimulus measures, but also the distraction of the central bank meetings over the next 48 hours," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.

"Progress on inflation could mean both the Fed and ECB are about to announce their final rate hikes of the tightening cycle; the question is will they acknowledge that or maintain a hawkish position over the rest of the summer?"

The day before, the Politburo had signalled intention to boost economic stimulus in the world's second-largest economy.

Economic data published on Tuesday came in on the strong side.

S&P reported that its Case Shiller National Home Price Index rose at a month-on-month pace of 0.7% in May.

The Conference Board's consumer confidence index increased from a reading of 110.1 for June to 117.0 in July (consensus: 112.0).

Worth noting, the confidence index was boosted most by improved expectations, although Ian Shepherdson at Pantheon Macroeconomics was skeptical that it signalled a reacceleration in consumer spending in the fourth quarter.

Investors were also expectant ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy announcement due out the next day with market commentary apparently split on whether it would be right for it to indicate that rate hikes were coming to an end.

In corporate news, Goldman Sachs was in focus after Citi cuts its rating on the shares to 'neutral'.

So too was Raytheon after the engine maker announced that it powdered metal used to manufacture certain jet engine parts used in Airbus's A320neo might reduce their service life.

At one point in the session the shares tanked 15%, putting them on track for their worst fall since the 11 September terror attacks.

GE stock on the other hand snapped 6% higher after reporting better-than-expected earnings and raising its outlook.

Carmaker GM also beat analysts' estimates but it shares dropped on the back of a $792m recall charge.

Tech giants Alphabet and Microsoft were scheduled to release their latest quarterly results after the close of markets.

Dow Jones - Risers

3M Co. (MMM) $110.13 5.62%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $54.22 3.19%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $262.43 1.18%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $348.75 1.05%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $53.63 0.97%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $193.93 0.61%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $162.60 0.48%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $510.90 0.44%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $34.13 0.44%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $226.57 0.40%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Boeing Co. (BA) $212.57 -1.53%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $107.75 -0.93%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $173.32 -0.87%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $108.02 -0.71%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $86.06 -0.62%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $157.12 -0.56%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $293.77 -0.52%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $357.92 -0.28%
American Express Co. (AXP) $167.34 -0.27%
Visa Inc. (V) $240.11 -0.26%

S&P 500 - Risers

Packaging Corp. Amer (PKG) $152.90 10.26%
Msci Inc. (MSCI) $538.16 7.04%
PulteGroup Inc. (PHM) $83.48 6.30%
F5 Inc. (FFIV) $159.40 6.12%
General Electric Co. (GE) $116.70 5.85%
3M Co. (MMM) $110.13 5.62%
Westrock Company (WRK) $32.33 5.10%
International Paper Co. (IP) $33.92 4.77%
Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX) $43.90 4.28%
LyondellBasell Industries (LYB) $94.22 3.76%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Raytheon Technologies Corporation (RTX) $83.24 -14.19%
Alaska Air Group Inc. (ALK) $46.82 -12.21%
Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (LW) $105.17 -6.67%
Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) $35.17 -5.46%
Invesco Ltd. (IVZ) $17.02 -5.23%
Whirlpool Corp. (WHR) $143.88 -4.57%
United Airlines Holdings Inc (UAL) $53.60 -4.39%
PACCAR Inc. (PCAR) $85.44 -3.68%
Delta Airlines Inc. (DAL) $45.89 -3.35%
Avery Dennison Corp. (AVY) $171.69 -3.33%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $459.33 2.96%
Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP) $91.13 2.54%
CSX Corp. (CSX) $33.28 2.35%
Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) $196.81 2.31%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $653.46 2.26%
Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) $188.02 2.25%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $141.25 2.10%
Intuit Inc. (INTU) $497.70 1.88%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $469.58 1.87%
Synopsys Inc. (SNPS) $458.90 1.81%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Sirius XM Holdings Inc (SIRI) $5.30 -11.58%
Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $18.11 -5.23%
Liberty Global plc Series C (LBTYK) $19.19 -4.93%
PACCAR Inc. (PCAR) $85.44 -3.68%
Biogen Inc (BIIB) $267.82 -3.31%
Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) $328.00 -2.67%
American Airlines Group (AAL) $16.53 -2.07%
Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) $1.07 -1.83%
Hasbro Inc (HAS) $63.81 -1.80%
Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. (ULTA) $448.04 -1.46%

Email this article to a friend

or share it with one of these popular networks:

• DIGG
• FACEBOOK
• STUMBLEUPON
• MIXX
• YAHOO BUZZ
• DELICIOUS
• REDDIT
• NEWSVINE