Stocks End Slightly Higher ahead of Fed Clarity

U.S. stocks ended slightly higher on Tuesday, as investors mostly held off on making big bets with the Federal Reserve engaged in a two-day policy meeting. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 36.43 points, or 0.17%, to 20,949.89. The S&P 500 added 2.84 point, or 0.12%, to 2,391.17. The Nasdaq Composite rose 3.77 points, or 0.06%, to 6,095.37.

Oil on Tuesday registered back-to-back declines as rising output in Libya and the U.S., and a survey showing a fall last month in compliance with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ production cut, sent futures to their lowest settlements in several weeks. June West Texas Intermediate crude fell $1.18, or 2.4%, to settle at $47.66 a barrel. July Brent on London’s ICE Futures exchange lost $1.06 cents, or 2.1%, to $50.46 a barrel.

Apple has announced its latest quarter results including $50.6b in revenue with $11.03b from 50.7m iPhones, 8.92m iPads, and 4.19m Macs sold. In terms of new products, the quarter includes launch day sales for the cheaper $329 iPad and Product RED iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. FY17 Q2 results compare to the previous quarter’s $78.4 billion in revenue, $17.89 billion in profit, 78.3 million iPhones, 13 million iPads, and 5.3 million Macs.

Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) on Tuesday reported first-quarter profit of $2.7 billion. It had profit of $2.05 per share. Earnings, adjusted for costs related to mergers and acquisitions and stock option expense, came to $2.23 per share. The results missed Wall Street expectations.

Mondelez International Inc. (MDLZ) on Tuesday reported first-quarter net income of $630 million. The company said it had profit of 41 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, were 53 cents per share. The results exceeded Wall Street expectations.