US stocks post modest gains ahead of Fed meeting

Equity prices in Wall Street rebounded and turned positive again, on the day that the FOMC meeting started. The Dow Jones was rising 0.25% near the end of the session at 18,167 while the S&P 500 gained 0.22%.

Traders attention is on the Federal Reserve that will announce its decision on Wednesday. No change in rates is expected but the statement and Janet Yellen’s press conference is likely to impact across financial markets.

Regarding economic data, the housing starts report showed worst-than-expected numbers with a decline of 5.8% in August, following a 1.4% rise in July. “Data for June and July were revised slightly higher, which leaves the year-to-date trend solidly positive, with starts up 6.1 percent”, said analysts from Wells Fargo.

European markets finished mixed. Germany's DAX gained 0.20%, UK's FTSE 100 index climbed 0.25%  while the French CAC 40 fell 0.13%. In the forex market, the  US Dollar Index was modestly higher still below the 96.00 handle. Price action remained limited with the pound under-performing and the Mexican peso hitting new all-time lows against the US dollar.