Wall Street today: US stocks edge higher in anticipation of Fed rate cut, Nvidia rallies

US stock indices rose on Wednesday in anticipation of interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve, that is due to announce its final policy decision of this year later in the day.

The central bank is widely expected to cut rates by a quarter point.

At 12:00 pm ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 160.68 points, or 0.37 per cent, to 43,610.58, the S&P 500 gained 12.56 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 6,063.10 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 37.96 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 20,147.02.

As of 11 am Eastern time, the S&P 500 rose 0.3 per cent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.5 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.3 per cent.

At 9:45 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 65.44 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 43,514.59, the S&P 500 lost 5.81 points, or 0.10 per cent, to 6,044.65 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 20.19 points, or 0.10 per cent, to 20,088.87.

At the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 9.8 points, or 0.02 per cent, to 43,459.72. The S&P 500 fell 3.0 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 6,047.65, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 5.9 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 20,114.982.

Among the megacap stocks,Nvidia climbed 4.3 per cent and Tesla rose 1 per cent.

Jabil stock climbed 9.6 per cent after the electronics company reported stronger profit and revenue for the third quarter.

General Mills, which dropped 3.7 per cent despite reporting a stronger quarterly profit.

Crypto stocks declined on Wednesday after bitcoin shed 1.9 per cent.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.39 per cent from 4.40 per cent late on Tuesday. The 2-year yield eased to 4.21 per cent from 4.25 per cent.

Crude oil

Oil prices were steady on Wednesday ahead of a potential interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve.

Brent futures rose 42 cents, or 0.57 per cent, to $73.61 a barrel at 1201 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 47 cents, or 0.67 per cent, to $70.55 a barrel.

Bullion

Gold prices were little changed on Wednesday with spot gold down 0.1 per cent to $2,643.79 per ounce by 1256 GMT. US gold futures fell 0.1 per cent to $2,659.80.

Spot silver was down 0.6 per cent at $30.35 per ounce.