US stocks surge to fresh record highs, Fed in focus

Haresh Menghani FXStreet

US stocks opened with strong gains on Wednesday, with all the three major indices hitting all-time highs immediately after the opening bell.

During the early hour of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged over 100-points to 21,726, while the broader S&P 500 Index added around 4-points to 2,480. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed over 14-points to 6,427.

Strong quarterly earnings reports, led by Boeing and AT&T provide fundamental support to the market rally. With investors counting on earnings to justify the current stretched valuations, focus turns to another round of earnings report from big names like Ford and Facebook.

• US Stocks: Strong Q2 earning results keep coming on Wednesday

Meanwhile, a strong rally in oil prices, with WTI Crude oil surging through $48.00/barrel mark further supported investors' appetite for riskier assets - like equities.

Today's key focus would be on the outcome of two-day FOMC meeting, where the central bank is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged but the accompanying rate statement would be keenly scrutinized for clues over the timing of a long-awaited balance sheet reduction.

• FOMC Preview: 12 major banks expectation from July meeting

Author

Haresh Menghani

FXStreet

Haresh Menghani is a detail-oriented professional with 10+ years of extensive experience in analysing the global financial markets.

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