S&P 500 Index opens modestly higher ahead of Fed's policy announcements

• Wall Street's main indexes started the day modestly higher.
• S&P 500 Consumer Staples Index rises after Retail Sales data.
• Investors wait for Fed to announce its monetary policy decisions.

Major equity indexes in the US opened modestly higher on Wednesday as investors seem to be refraining from taking large positions while waiting for the US Federal Reserve to announce its monetary policy decisions.

As of writing, the S&P 500 Index was up 0.4% on the day at 3,414, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was gaining 0.23% at 28,059 and the Nasdaq Composite was rising 0.35% at 11,478.

Earlier in the day, the data published by the US Census Bureau showed that Retail Sales in August increased by 0.6% to $537.5 billion. Boosted by this data, the S&P 500 Consumer Staples Index is 0.6% as the best-performing major sector in the early trade. On the other hand, the Materials Index and the Utilities Index trade in the negative territory.

Previewing the FOMC' September meeting, "the FOMC recently updated its policy framework. It will no longer look to pre-emptively tighten policy on the basis of an expected pick-up in inflation in response to a tightening labour market," said ANZ analysts. "Despite the new long-run objectives, we don’t expect the FOMC to make any major announcements on forward guidance or asset purchases."

S&P 500 chart (daily)