Tech increases Wall Street; Boeing keeps Dow in check by Reuters

By Medha Singh and Shreyashi Sanyal

(Reuters) – Nasdaq and Monday last year extended profits, the promise of technology and financial stocks, as investors waited for the Federal Reserve's policy meeting later in the week for further joints on the pace of interest rate increases.

At the central bank's two-day policy meeting starting on Tuesday, the Fed is expected to stick to its promise of a "patient" approach to monetary policy.

Investors will look for whether decision-makers will have sufficiently lowered their interest rate forecasts to adjust to the Fed's "dot plot", a chart showing individual policy interest rate developments over the next three years. 1[ads1]9659004] Also expected is more details on a plan to stop cutting Fed's holdings of nearly $ 3.8 trillion in bonds.

"The Fed meeting this week is a clear catalyst for markets. It has a lot to do with the expectations of a Fed lowers the dot and also a bit more clarity in the balance sheet," said Jon Adams, senior investment strategist for BMO Global Asset Management in Chicago.

"A Fed that's on hold will really help increase profit expectations and margins. "

It was Boeing (NYSE 🙂 Co, which held 2.1 percent after Ethiopia said an initial analysis of black boxes showed" clear similarities "in the March 10 aircraft crash with October's accident in Indonesia. 19659004] Concerns Over the security of Boeing's money-making MAX 8s, the plane was grounded worldwide last week and shaved more than 10 percent from the market value of the world's largest planner.

Apple Inc (NASDAQ 🙂 rose 1 percent after the launch of a new 10 , 5-inch iPad Air in a surprising move on Monday The IPhone maker's shares increased the technology sector, which along with the finance industry offered the largest support to the S&P 500.

Facebook Inc. ( NASDAQ 🙂 dropped 2.3 percent after a top rated analyst review on the company's stock to "hold" and dragged the communications services sector 0.53 percent lower, most among the 11 major S&P sectors.

At 11:01 ET was up 13.03 points, or 0.05 percent, at 25.861.90. The S&P 500 was up 10.79 points, or 0.38 percent, at 2,833.27 and it was 43.77 points, or 0.57 percent, at 7,732.29.

A number of negative economic data last week validated Fed's decision to remain less aggressive on interest rate increases.

The bold stance together with the hope that the US and China will reach an agreement to end their bitter trade battle, increased the S & P 500 and Nasdaq to five months high on Friday and notched their best weekly gains this year. [19659004] The benchmark index is now only 3.4 percent away from its all-time ending high in September.

Edwards Lifesciences Corp (NYSE 🙂 jumped 6.9 percent, mostly among S&P stocks, after trial results showed that the company's non-invasive heart valve replacement system was superior to surgery.

Accelerated problems were decliners for a 3.09-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 2.39 to 1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 26 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while Na sdaq recorded 67 new heights and 15 new downs.