At the close on the New York Stock Exchange, the Dow Jones rose 1.20%, the S&P 500 index rose 0.89%, the NASDAQ Composite index rose 0.39%.
The US Federal Reserve will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday. More than 70% of analysts polled predict a 25 basis point hike to 4.75-5%. In addition to the decision on the key rate, the regulator will also present updated macroeconomic forecasts.
According to FHN Financial senior economist Chris Lowe, a 50 basis point hike would be reckless, but keeping the rate up would mean that the banking crisis has supplanted the fight against inflation. Under the circumstances, a 25 basis point increase seems right.
The leading gainer among the components of the Dow Jones index today was Honeywell International Inc, which gained 5.24 points or 2.84% to close at 189.88. Quotes of Caterpillar Inc rose by 5.30 points (2.47%), closing the session at 220.31. Dow Inc rose 1.24 points or 2.48% to close at 51.26.
Shares of Microsoft Corporation became the least gainers, the price of which fell by 7.20 points (2.58%), ending the session at 272.23. Intel Corporation was up 2.18% or 0.65 points to close at 29.16 while Salesforce Inc was up 0.22% or 0.40 points to close at 185.25 .
Among the S&P 500 index components gainers in today's trading were NRG Energy Inc, which rose 6.83% to 33.63, Fleetcor Technologies Inc, which gained 6.35% to close at 199.08, and also shares of Assurant Inc, which rose 5.98% to end the session at 111.19.
The least gainers were First Republic Bank, which shed 47.29% to close at 12.14. Shares of Gap Inc lost 2.89% to end the session at 9.42. Quotes of Microsoft Corporation decreased in price by 2.58% to 272.23.
Leading gainers among the components of the NASDAQ Composite in today's trading were Loyalty Ventures Inc, which rose 153.78% to hit 0.22, Lifecore Biomedical Inc, which gained 85.63% to close at 3.10, and also shares of GeneDx Holdings Corp, which rose 41.30% to end the session at 0.51.
The least gainers were Aziyo Biologics Inc, which shed 62.82% to close at 1.45. Shares of Pear Therapeutics Inc lost 46.27% to end the session at 0.21. Quotes of Acrivon Therapeutics Inc decreased in price by 41.95% to 11.61.
On the New York Stock Exchange, the number of securities that rose in price (1898) exceeded the number of those that closed in the red (1114), and quotes of 100 shares remained practically unchanged. On the NASDAQ stock exchange, 1817 stocks fell, 1802 rose, and 152 remained at the previous close.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which is based on S&P 500 options trading, fell 5.33% to 24.15.
Gold futures for April delivery added 0.47%, or 9.30, to $1.00 a troy ounce. In other commodities, WTI crude for May delivery rose 1.31%, or 0.88, to $67.81 a barrel. Futures for Brent crude for May delivery rose 0.15%, or 0.11, to $73.84 a barrel.
Meanwhile, in the Forex market, the EUR/USD pair remained unchanged 0.03% to 1.07, while USD/JPY fell 0.01% to hit 131.29.
Futures on the USD index fell 0.44% to 102.90.
