The New York equities markets were up at midday on Monday, but investors were cautious a day ahead of the next meeting of the US Federal Reserve, which will decide whether or not to raise interest rates again after holding off on a hike last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.2 percent higher to 11,579.18, while the Nasdaq Composite had added 0.5 percent to 2,245.93 and the S&P 500 was up 0.3 percent to 1,324.03.
Homebuilders were up, with Toll Brothers gaining 1.6 percent to $28.53 and Pulte up 1.7 percent to $32.50. The gains did not extend to home improvement retailer Home Depot, however, which dropped 1.5 percent to $36.68 on a downgrade from “outperform” to “neutral” from Credit Suisse.
The semiconductors sector was also higher. Nvidia was 2.9 percent higher to $30.41 and Advanced Micro Devices advanced by 3.3 percent to $27.40. Freescale Semiconductor added 5.7 percent to $39.29 after it was announced that it would be acquired by a private equity consortium. Meanwhile, chip making equipment manufacturer Applied Materials gained 3.4 percent to $17.78 on the announcement of another share buyback.
The possibility of cuts in production from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and a statement from Iran that claimed that its offer to halt its enrichment of uranium was misunderstood in the West sent shares in oil companies higher. ExxonMobil was 2 percent higher to $65.94, while Schlumberger added 2.8 percent to $57.84.
Ford Motor was down again, falling 2.2 percent to $7.84, as investors continued to react to an announcement Friday that among its cost-cutting measures would be the elimination of a third of its payroll.