US open: Markets fluctuate ahead of Fed's decision

US stocks fluctuated on Wednesday, as investors awaited a decision from the Federal Open Market Committee that is expected to end the Fed's bond-buying program.

At 10:06: in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 40.45 points up to 17,046.20, while the S&P 500 was 2.74 higher at 1,987.79 and the Nasdaq was 10.10 points down to 4,096.529.

Federal Reserve officials will meet at 2pm Eastern Time (4pm GMT) and are expected to announce the end of the bond-buying program. Yet traders were adopting a more bullish approach early on Wednesday, as they anticipated the Fed would be dovish in its forward guidance.

In corporate news, Facebook shares dropped sharply as investors showed concern over the firm's operating costs, even though the social media outfit's quarterly results exceeded estimates on Tuesday.

Electronic Arts rose sharply on the heels of its results, while US Steel and Marriott International both advanced after delivering better-than-expected results and Goodyear shares rose steadily.

The tyre-maker reported lower third-quarter financial results as taxes and exchange rate headwinds limited profitability, though it beat analyst expectations and generated a profit in Latin America despite the economic turmoil in the region.

InvenSense plummeted over 20% after the sensor firm fell well short of its targets, while Orbital Sciences dropped over 10% before the bell after one of the company's rockets exploded soon after lift-off on Tuesday.

Alibaba surpassed Wal-Mart in terms of market capitalisation but that did not stop shares from retreating slightly, while Twitter slid further back as a result analysts' downgrades on Tuesday.

The dollar advanced slightly against the pound but fell against the euro and the yen, while gold futures slipped marginally to reach $1,224.00.

West Texas intermediate and Brent crude futures both took small steps forward, trading at just over $82 and just over $87 a barrel respectively.

The yield on the 10-Year US Treasury note rose one basis point to 2.31%, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond and the yield on the five-year Treasuries advanced by the same amount to 3.08% and 1.53% respectively.