US open: Stocks in the green ahead of Apple event, Fed meeting

Wall Street stocks were higher after the bell on Tuesday ahead of the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting and Apple's first virtual-only product reveal.

As of 1520 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.66% at 28,178.40, while the S&P 500 was 0.93% firmer at 3,415.06 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 1.23% stronger at 11,193.07.

The Dow opened 185.07 points higher on Tuesday, extending gains recorded in the previous session as a raft of corporate deals and optimism around a Covid-19 vaccine led a broad market rally.

The Federal Reserve will start its policy-setting meeting later in the day, with a news conference and a fresh statement from Central Bank officials set to follow on Wednesday. The Federal Open Market Committee's meeting will be its first since launching its new policy framework of targeting average-inflation.

Sentiment also got a boost from data out of China, which revealed retail sales rose 0.5% in August, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Over to Apple, the tech giant has been pegged to reveal its new smartwatch and iPad devices during its digital product launch at 1800 BST.

In earnings news, shares in cruise line operator Carnival fell on Tuesday after the group revealed it had swung to $2.86bn loss in the third quarter, while Adobe and FedEx will report earnings after the close.

On the macro front, import prices increased more than expected in August, according to the Labor Department, while the previous month's figures were also revised sharply higher, indicating that inflation pressures may very well be building up.

Import prices rose 0.9% last month, while data for July was revised to 1.2% from 0.7%. Export prices increased 0.5% in August following a 0.9% gain in July.

Elsewhere, New York Federal Reserve revealed that its Empire State manufacturing index rose to 17 in September - up significantly from August's reading of 3.7 and much better than expected.

Lastly, industrial production rose 0.4% across the US in August, according to the Federal Reserve, a markedly weaker increase than in the prior two months - which were revised to 6.1% and 3.5%, respectively.