NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks rose early Tuesday as the Dow advanced to within striking distance of 20,000 points shortly before the start of a two-day Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting.
About 25 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had risen to 19,892.86, up 0.5 percent.
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.6 percent to 2,270.58, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1.1 percent to 5,470.25.
US stocks have repeatedly pushed to new records since US election day in anticipation of pro-growth policies following the Republican sweep.
“The stock market’s resilience to selling efforts, and the ease with which it bounces back from any little dip, reflects the bullish bias that has dominated since Election Day,” Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare said.
“More specifically, these days it reflects a fear of missing out on further gains.”
Analysts expect the Fed on Wednesday to hike interest rates for just the second time in a decade. The market will be scrutinizing the Fed’s commentary for clues about the planned pace of increases in 2017 after a lengthy stretch of unusually low interest rates.
Technology shares were strong, with Apple gaining 1.5 percent, Amazon 2.3 percent, Google parent Alphabet 1.6 percent and Microsoft 1.3 percent.
Boeing dipped 0.1 percent as it announced it will cut production on its 777 aircraft next year, a move that will impact an unspecified number of jobs. The aerospace giant also said it was lifting its quarterly dividend 30 percent to $1.42 per share and authorizing additional share repurchases to allow up to $14 billion.
