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New York - Wall Street stocks rose early on Wednesday ahead of a Federal Reserve policy statement that could offer clues on when the US central bank will begin lifting interest rates.
About 30 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 17 946.08, up 41.60 points (0.23%).
The broad-based S&P 500 added 5.11 (0.24%) at 2 101.40, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 17.40 to 5 072.95.
The Federal Open Market Committee statement at 18:00 GMT will be followed by a news conference with Fed Chair Janet Yellen.
"Clearly, the FOMC isn't going to be raising the fed funds rate today, yet the market will be locked in on any language that suggests the committee's strong preference is to raise the policy rate before the end of the year, if not before the end of the third quarter," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.
Package delivery giant FedEx sank 3% as it reported a loss of $895m for the quarter ending May 31 due to higher costs in its pension accounting, a write down on aircraft assets and an increase in its legal reserves.
Software company Adobe Systems lost 1.6% after reporting second-quarter net income of 48 cents per share, three cents above analyst expectations. Credit Suisse said the stock is already well valued and that it will be watching to see if the company is able to raises prices on cloud computing subscriptions.
In the media sector, 21st Century Fox rose 0.7% after announcing after markets closed on Tuesday that Rupert Murdoch will step down as chief executive and be replaced by his son, James Murdoch. Rupert Murdoch and his other son, Lachlan, will serve as executive co-chairpersons. The changes had been widely reported last week.
T-Mobile US surged 2.4% following a report it is in talks to be acquired by US cable giant Comcast, up 0.6%.
Kythera Biopharmaceuticals bolted 22.1% higher on news it reached a $2.1bn deal to be acquired by Botox-maker Allergan. Kythera is the maker of Kybella, an injectable drug to treat double chins.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.34% from 2.31% on Tuesday, while the 30-year advanced to 3.09% from 3.04%. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
