By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The Dow eased from session highs, as financials fell and Apple cut its gains after unveiling its services bundle and new hardware.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.16%, or 44 points. The S&P 500 was up 0.52%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 1.11%.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) unveiled Tuesday its new hardware including new iPads and Apple Watches and unveiled its much-rumored services bundle, Apple One, starting at $14.95 per month. Apple rose 0.3%, but had been up more than 1% in early trade.
The bundle will be launched in three tiers: individual, family, and premier offering. Each will include services such as Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, iCloud storage. Apple News+ and Apple Fitness+, however, are included with the more expensive premium subscription at $29.95 a month, the company said.
The virtual product event comes ahead of the widely anticipated launch of the iPhone 12, expected next month, which many on Wall Street believe will trigger a ramp-up in iPhone upgrades.
Other big tech stocks also pushed the broader market higher, with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) trading above the flatline.
Financials fell about 1%, led by a fall in Wall Street banks ahead of the Fed's two-day meeting, which kicks off today. The Fed on Wednesday is expected to keep rates unchanged, and will likely reiterate its support to keep rates lower for longer.
JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) fell 2% after lowering guidance on net interest income in the wake of falling interest rates.
Energy, meanwhile, struggled to make a meaningful advance even as oil prices shrugged off concern about weaker demand.
The International Energy Agency said it expects global oil demand growth to fall by 8.4 million barrels per day year-on-year to 91.7 million bpd. That is a deeper contraction than the 8.1 million bpd decline previously estimated.
On the economic front, investors digested positive regional market data as a sign that the economic recovery remains intact despite dimming hopes of further stimulus from Congress.
The Empire State Manufacturing index rose to a reading of 17 in September, from 3.7 last month, topping economists’ estimates of 7.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told CNBC in an interview on Tuesday that she would not back the Republican’s “skinny” version of her party’s coronavirus stimulus plan.
In other news, Nikola (NASDAQ:NKLA) fell more than 7% giving back gains from a day earlier after the electric pickup maker reportedly came under investigation from the Securities and Exchange Commission following allegations of fraud from short-seller Hindenburg, Bloomberg reported.