S&P 500; US Indexes Fundamental Daily Forecast – Stocks Rise Ahead of Fed Statement

The major U.S. stock indexes opened at record highs on Wednesday on the back of strong economic data and ahead of the release of the Fed’s monetary policy statement at 1400 GMT. U.S. equity markets are also following strong gains in Europe and Asia.

Tech stocks are leading the NASDAQ Composite higher. The S&P 500 Index is being supported by the energy sector. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is being driven higher by DowDuPont.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged, however, investors will be looking for further confirmation that the central bank will raise rates in December. Currently, expectations for a December rate hike are nearly 100 percent, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

The indexes are being helped early in the session by strong gains in European and Asian stocks which are being supported by strong gains in commodities.

Additionally, as of Tuesday morning, 73 percent of the companies that have reported have surpassed earnings expectations, while 66 percent have surpassed sales estimates, according to Thompson Reuters.

In economic news, the U.S. private sector added 235,000 jobs in October, according to a report from ADP and Moody’s. Economists polled by Reuters expected a gain of 200,000 jobs.

ISM Manufacturing PMI came in at 58.7, slightly below the 59.5 estimate and 60.8 previous reading. Final Manufacturing PMI was 54.6, slightly better than the 54.5 estimate and previous read.

Construction Spending was up 0.3%. The previous report was lowered to 0.1%. Traders were looking for a reading of -0.1%.

Finally, crude oil inventories came in at -2.4 million barrels. This number is bullish when compared to the -1.5 million barrel estimate.