Investing.com – Wall Street traded higher on Tuesday with both the Dow and S&P hitting new record intraday highs as Federal Reserve (Fed) policymakers gathered for their two-day policy meeting.
At 11:38AM ET (16:38GMT), the Dow Jones gained 78 points, or 0.39%, and the S&P 500 added 13 points or 0.57%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite traded up 63 points, or 1.16%.
After hitting an intraday high at 19,915.87 points, the Dow pared gains but was still on track to hit its 16th all-time closing high since the U.S. presidential election in what would be the fifth straight session of ending in record-breaking territory.
That was despite the fact that the Fed was widely expected to announce an interest rate hike at the end of its two-day meeting on Wednesday.
With markets pricing in the odds of a 25 basis point hike at 100%, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool, investors were likely to watch any changes to the dot-plot that shows individual expectations for the future path of rate hikes.
Most experts warned that the risk was hawkish with Fed members apt to increase expectations for the pace of hikes throughout 2017.
Still, market speculation that incoming President Donald Trump would implement fiscal policies to spur economic growth and the labor market has pushed the S&P 500 nearly 6% higher since the November 8 elections and buoyed the Dow to within 1% of 20,000 points.
If the blue-chip index managed to hit that psychological level this week, it would be the fastest 1,000 point move from three-zeros to three-zeros ever after the Dow hit 19,000 points on November 22.
U.S. data has been light this week as markets look ahead to the Fed announcement, economic projections and press conference with Janet Yellen.
Tuesday saw both import and export prices fall less than expected in November, though experts suggested that a stronger dollar backed by Trump-induced inflation expectations would not be reflected in last month’s data.
The dollar underwent choppy trade against major rivals on Tuesday, passing between gains and losses as market participants looked forward to central bank decision.
Meanwhile, oil prices were slightly lower on Tuesday as investors took profits following a powerful rally that saw prices hit the highest levels since mid-2015 a day earlier after major producers reached a deal to scale back output.
Market participants looked ahead to a reading on U.S. crude inventories from the American Petroleum Institute later in the session before official data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday with expectations for a draw of 1.467 million barrels.
U.S. crude futures fell 0.15% to $52.76 by 11:43AM ET (15:43GMT), while Brent oil traded down 0.25% to $55.55.
In blue-chip corporate news, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) said on Tuesday its wireless AirPod headphones were now available through its website, two months after the company delayed their launch for unexplained reasons.
Boeing (NYSE:BA) announced late Monday that it will cut production of its revenue-boosting twin-aisle 777-jetliner from 8.3 to 5 a month beginning in August 2017, although the blue-chip aircraft maker also increased its dividend by 30% and announced a $14 billion share repurchase program.
President-elect Donald Trump formally appointed Exxon (NYSE:XOM) chair and chief executive Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State.