Investors didn’t expect an increase in US interest rates, but the Japanese central bank is expected to take new steps to boost that nation’s ailing economy.
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The same source of information which sent oil more than 2% higher at some point yesterday is dragging prices today.
Merck rose 1 percent, the second-biggest gain in the Dow Jones industrial average.
Gilead Sciences gained 2.79 dollars (£2.13), or 3.5%, to 81.78 dollars (£62.71) after the hepatitis C drugmaker completed a five billion (£3.83 billion) debt offering.
“Not many think the Fed is going to hike tomorrow, but whether they change the language to get a little more hawkish, there’s been conversation around that”, said Walter Todd, chief investment officer at Greenwood Capital in Greenwood, South Carolina. Elsewhere, Merck rose 93 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $62.26.
The central bank’s two-day meeting will conclude with Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s press conference at 2:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
“We do not expect a change in Fed policy, and we continue to forecast no policy rate changes for the balance of the year”, said Jason Schenker of Prestige Economics in a client note. The company bought Ann Taylor a year ago and also struggled with discounts from competitors and shaky demand.
The Nasdaq rose 0.13 per cent to 5,241.04.
Tobira Therapeutics, which specializes in remedies for liver disease, surged more than eight-fold on news it agreed to be acquired by Allergan for $1.7 billion. Tobira stock lost about half its value in July after one of its drugs failed in a mid-stage clinical study. Monthly housing figures can be volatile and housing starts continued to grow this year, but the result hurt shares of homebuilders. Lennar, which reported strong quarterly results, shed $2.05, or 4.5 percent, to $43.05.
Royal Caribbean Cruises added 2.93 dollars (£2.24), or 4.5%, to 68.41 dollars (£52.45) after the company raised its quarterly dividend to 48 cents from 37.5 cents.
Water park operator SeaWorld Entertainment slumped nearly 5 percent after saying it would suspend its dividend payments. Its stock gave up 63 cents, or 5 percent, to $12.06.
On Tuesday, a day ahead of the FOMC meeting, the MSCI Emerging Markets – which measures equity market performance in some 23 emerging countries and comprises 10 per cent of global capitalization – rose 0.16 per cent to 899.72 before sliding back to 897.68.
CURRENCIES: The dollar fell to 101.88 yen from 102.05 yen late Monday in Asia.
Economists had expected housing starts to drop by 1.7 percent to a rate of 1.190 million from the 1.211 million that had been reported for the previous month.
US light crude oil futures for October (New York Mercantile Exchange: @CL.1) traded as low as $42.55 per barrel, which was a near-six-week low. Brent crude, used to price global oils, slipped 41 cents to $45.54 a barrel in London.
Spot gold XAU= inched slightly higher to $1,313.80 an ounce. Silver fell 1 cent to $19.28 an ounce.
The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 0.7 per cent.
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In the early trade, Hang Seng, Nikkei and Shanghai were down by 0.21 per cent, 0.42 per cent and 0.13 per cent, respectively.
