Wall Street Edges into Record Territory ahead of Fed Meet

W460

Wall Street stocks opened the week at fresh highs on Monday as investors built on Friday's record closes following a weekend of geopolitical calm on the Korean peninsula.

The strong open came ahead of Tuesday's start of a meeting of the Federal Reserve, with investors waiting to learn central bank chief Janet Yellen's views on inflation and to glean hints about the timing of the next interest rate hike.

Ten minutes into the day's trading, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1 percent at 22,296.09 while the broader S&P 500 was up 0.3 percent at 2,505.17 -- both fresh highs. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.3 percent to 6,465.75.

In addition to discussing inflation, which ticked a little higher in August after months on life-support, the Fed is also widely expected to announce the start of tapering down its multi-trillion-investment holdings -- ending a stimulus program put in place after the global financial crisis and tightening the money supply.

"The importance of this meeting for the capital markets will make for an interesting hump day this week," said Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.com, adding that markets were likely to post small gains despite uncertainties about the meeting.

"For now, though, it's just about getting over the hump of the opening bell, which looks ready to toll again, albeit softly, for the bulls."

Defense giant Northrop Grumman added 1.1 percent after announcing it would acquire aerospace and defense firm Orbital ATK for $9.2 billion. Orbital itself soared nearly 20 percent.

Construction equipment maker Caterpillar also led gainers on the Dow, jumped by 1.5 percent after Swiss bank UBS upgraded the company to "buy" from "neutral," citing its strong cash position.

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