Stock Opened Modestly Higher ahead of Fed Meeting

U.S. stocks opened modestly higher on Tuesday as Wall Street looked to shake off China’s continuing rout and snap a five-session losing streak ahead of a highly anticipated Federal Reserve meeting. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately rose 52.32 points, or 0.30%, to 17,492.91. The S&P 500 added 7.26 points, or 0.35%, to 2,074.90. The Nasdaq Composite picked up 6.79 points, or 013%, to 5,046.56.

U.S. single-family home prices in May rose from the previous year at the same pace as April but fell short of forecasts, as housing construction slowed and new home sales lagged existing home sales, a closely watched survey said on Tuesday. The S&P/Case Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas in May gained 4.9 percent year over year, matching the pace set in April.

The Ford Motor Company reported strong profits well above expectations on Tuesday, saying that quarterly earnings were $1.9 billion, up 44 percent compared with a year earlier. The company said its overall automotive division’s quarterly profits were the highest in 15 years.

United Parcel Service Inc. beat second-quarter profit expectations, although sales missed. Earnings climbed to $1.23 billion, or $1.35 a share, from $454 million, or 49 cents a share, in the same period a year ago.

Volkswagen surpassed Toyota as the world’s largest automaker in the first half of 2015, fulfilling a long-held goal, but the achievement came at a cost. Volkswagen sold 5.04 million vehicles in the first six months of the year, edging Toyota’s 5.02 million despite quality slips in the U.S.

Microsoft’s new Windows 10 operating system debuts Wednesday. Windows 10 is coming to PCs and tablets first, but it’s also designed to run phones, game consoles and even holographic headsets. It has new features, a streamlined Web browser called Edge and a desktop version of Cortana, the online assistant that is Microsoft’s answer to Google Now and Apple’s Siri.

Oil prices fell to their lowest in nearly six months on Tuesday. Brent was down 72 cents at $52.75 a barrel by 1054 GMT, having hit a session low of $52.28, its lowest since early February, bringing the losses for July to nearly 18 percent.