US: Stocks rise ahead of Fed decision

[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks bounced in early trading Tuesday, recovering some of the prior session's losses ahead of a Federal Reserve announcement on interest rates.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 24,747.53, up 0.6 per cent.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.3 per cent to 2,722.19, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.4 per cent to 7,371.87.

Large declines by major technology companies on Monday led to a pullback of more than one per cent on major indices on fears the tech industry could face a regulatory crackdown following a Facebook data scandal.

But investors took the opportunity early Tuesday to buy in at the reduced prices, setting aside worries about trade conflicts and US monetary policy.

The Fed is widely expected to lift interest rates on Wednesday, but the central bank's policy statement will be scrutinised on whether it implies a more aggressive approach to further hiking rates.

Facebook was under pressure again, falling 1.8 per cent in the wake of reports that a data analysis firm hired by Donald Trump's presidential campaign misused data of some 50 million users.

Oracle slumped 8.7 per cent after reporting a six per cent rise in quarterly revenues to US$9.8 billion. However the company's forecast for cloud services sales growth lagged many analysts' expectations.

AFP