Investing.com – Wall Street rose higher on Wednesday as technology stocks gained steam and investors waited for the Federal Reserve interest rate decision later in the day.
The S&P 500 inched forward five points or 0.22% as of 10:30 AM ET (15:30 GMT) while the Dow composite was up 91 points or 0.37% 91 0.37and the tech heavy NASDAQ Composite rose 22 points or 0.33%.
The Federal Open Market Committee will announce whether or not it will raise interest rates at 2:00 PM ET (19:00 GMT), with many expecting the central bank rates one last time this year. Investors will also be listening closely for any indication of potential rate hikes in 2018.
Technology stocks were among the biggest gainers after the morning bell. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) rose 0.57% while Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) gained 0.71% and Twitter was up 0.28%. Chipmaker Finisar Corporation (NASDAQ:FNSR) surged 26.40% after Apple announced it would invest $390 million in the firm. Meanwhile semiconductor firm Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) increased 1.79% while Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) was up 2.00%.
Elsewhere luxury car maker Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) fell 0.69% while payments firm Square Inc (NYSE:SQ) lost 1.18% and shares in IT firm Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc (NASDAQ:HMNY) dropped 33.83% after the firm said it was selling stocks to raise money to increase its stake in ticketing service MoviePass.
Stocks in Europe were mixed. In Germany the DAX lost 46 points or 0.35% while France’s CAC 40 decreased 31 points or 0.59% and in London the FTSE 100 rose two points or 0.03%. Meanwhile Spain’s IBEX 35 fell 20 points or 0.20% and the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 was down 13 points or 0.38%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.39% to $1,246.60 a troy ounce while crude oil futures gained 0.23% to 57.27 a barrel. The U.S dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.17% to 93.90