Investing.com – Amid a slew of economic reports released on Wednesday, Wall Street traded higher on expectations that the Federal Reserve (Fed) would refrain later in the session from signaling an imminent return to policy normalization, while oil moved on session lows after the release of official weekly crude inventory data.
At 16:08GMT or 12:08ET, the Dow 30 gained 38 points, or 0.21%, the S&P 500 rose 5 points, or 0.23%, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite advanced 13 points, or 0.27%.
The Fed will pronounce its decision on monetary policy at 18:00GMT, or 14:00ET, along with an updated set of economic projections on Wednesday.
Both Fed fund futures and economists ruled out the possibility that the Fed would return to policy normalization at this meeting, but markets were expected to examine the Fed statement with a magnifying glass and pay particular attention to the dot plot that would reveal policy makers’ current expectations for the future path of rate hikes.
Fed officials cut their median forecast for interest rate increases to just two this year back in March, from the original estimate of four last December when they embarked on the first policy tightening in a decade.
With no changes expected in the price of money, traders will be looking to see if the Fed maintains projections for two increases this year or back steps to just one.
"The Fed changes its tone so frequently, it seems every other week the message is different,” chief executive of DoubleLine Capital Jeffrey Gundlach said on Tuesday.
Indeed, markets had repeatedly discounted only one rate hike this year, before a string of hawkish comments from Fed officials, including the central bank chief Janet Yellen who projected a hike “in the coming months” forced a reevaluation.
Yet a dismal May jobs report, which showed the slowest rate of jobs growth since September 2010, forced Yellen to reconsider and Fed fund futures once again forecast that there will be only one rate hike this year at the December meeting.
“They’ve turned into the 'Zombie Fed.' They say the meeting this week is 'live,' but investors all know it isn't at all," Gundlach explained.
Given Fed chair Janet Yellen’s recent speech on June 6, it seemed unlikely that her press conference just half an hour after the decision was released would reveal a major shift in position, but that didn’t imply that markets wouldn’t play close attention to her comments.
In the meantime, the dollar remained broadly lower against the other major currencies on Wednesday, despite the release of upbeat U.S. data, backing stocks’ apparent view that the Fed would deliver a dovish message.
Among economic reports released during the day, the U.S. Commerce Department said producer prices (PPI) rose by 0.4% last month, against forecasts for the 0.1% increase to remain at the levels seen in April.
Core producer prices, which exclude food and energy, also rose 0.3% last month, above forecasts for a 0.1% increase.
However, the PPI was down 0.1% from a year earlier, suggesting that inflationary pressure may remain in check.
Separately, the New York Federal Reserve said its Empire State manufacturing index rose to 6.01 in June from a reading of -9.02 the previous month. Analysts had expected the index to improve to -4.00 this month.
On a less positive note, another report showed that U.S. industrial production decreased by 0.4% last month, worse than expectations for a decline of 0.2%.
In oil markets, prices pulled back from intraday lows, with West Texas even momentarily entering positive territory, after the government reported weekly crude inventories.
Though the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that crude oil inventories fell less than expected, it came after the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a supply increase of 1.518 million barrels.
Adding to bullish sentiment, gasoline inventories decreased by 2.625 million barrels, compared to expectations for a drop of only 0.243 million barrels,
U.S. crude futures lost 0.37% to $48.31 by 16:11GMT, or 12:11ET, while Brent oil traded down 0.96% to $49.35.