Wall Street today: US stocks gain after retail sales data, Federal Reserve in focus

US stock indices gained on Tuesday after retail sales data as investors are focused on the Federal Reserve's policy decision to be declared on Wednesday.

Investors widely expect the Fed to cut interest rates for first time in more than four years.

The Fed has kept its interest rates at a two-decade high in hopes of slowing the economy enough to stifle high inflation.

At 09:49 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 78.70 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 41,706.55, the S&P 500 gained 21.50 points, or 0.38 per cent, to 5,654.59 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 126.91 points, or 0.72 per cent, to 17,719.03.

At the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 101.7 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 41,723.78. The S&P 500 rose 22.4 points, or 0.40 per cent, to 5,655.51, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 114.9 points, or 0.65 per cent, to 17,707.019.

A Commerce Department report showed retail sales rose in August, as a decline in receipts at auto dealerships was offset by strength in online shopping.

Overall retail sales were up 0.1 per cent from July to August at $710.8 billion.

Stocks of Google-parent Alphabet edged up 1.0 per cent, Tesla rose 1.90 per cent, and Nvidia added 0.44 per cent.

Microsoft shares jumped 2.3 per cent after the company’s board approved a new $60 billion share buyback program and hiked its quarterly dividend by 10 per cent.

Intel stock climbed 2.3 per cent after signing Amazon’s cloud services unit as a customer to make custom artificial intelligence chips. Amazon stock gained 2 per cent.

The 10-year Treasury yield was holding steady at 3.62 per cent. The 2-year yield rose to 3.59 per cent from 3.56 per cent.

Bullion

Gold prices eased slightly on Tuesday after hitting an all-time high in the previous session.

Spot gold fell 0.3 per cent to $2,574.88 per ounce by 9:42 am ET (1342 GMT). US gold futures eased 0.2 per cent at $2,602.70.

Spot silver fell 0.1 per cent to $30.74 per ounce after hitting a two-month high on Monday.

Crude oil

Oil prices were flat on Tuesday in choppy trade as the focus turned to the Federal Reserve's policy meeting.

Brent crude futures for November were up 9 cents, or 0.1 per cent, to $72.84 a barrel at 1335 GMT. US crude futures for October gained 23 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to $70.32.