by Sinéad Carew and Bansari Mayur Kamdar

(Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange ended higher on Tuesday, following gains from semiconductor giant Nvidia, as investors prepared for a statement from the US Federal Reserve (Fed), which will conclude its meeting on Wednesday two days of monetary policy.

The Dow Jones index gained 0.83%, or 320.33 points, to 39,110.76 points.

The broader S&P-500 gained 29.09 points, or 0.56%, to 5,178.51 points.

The Nasdaq Composite advanced 63.34 points (0.39%) to 16,166.79 points.

After communicating during the day on the delivery schedule and price of its new flagship chip intended for artificial intelligence (AI), unveiled on Monday, Nvidia initially fell back before ending up 1%.

The announcement of the highly anticipated Blackwell B200 chip, presented by Nvidia as 30 times faster than its current chips, however caused the decline in shares of Nvidia’s rivals and the semiconductor sector as a whole.

Carried on Monday by high-growth stocks, Wall Street recorded a second consecutive session in the green after having experienced slight losses during the previous two weeks.

This week is notably marked by the Fed’s monetary policy meeting, which should leave its interest rates unchanged on Wednesday. Investors are waiting for the press release from the American central bank and the press conference of its president, Jerome Powell, to scrutinize any information on the turnaround announced in its fight against inflation.

Data indicating higher than expected inflation in February in the United States has attenuated the hypothesis of a first rate cut in June. Traders are betting on this scenario at around 59%, compared to around 69% at the start of last week, according to FedWatch.

“There is optimism that the Fed won’t really surprise on Wednesday,” commented Gene Goldman, chief investment officer of Cetera Investment Management. “Three drops are still on the table,” he said thinking.

However, he added that Jerome Powell would likely remind the market of his cautious stance with regard to inflation and the importance of economic data in the Fed’s decisions.

Almost all of the eleven major sectors of the S&P-500 ended the session in the green, led by energy, which gained 1.1% in the wake of the rise in oil prices. Only communication services declined, by 0.2%.

Among other movements of note, the decline in bitcoin weighed on companies specializing in cryptocurrencies, such as Coinbase Global, Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital.

Super Micro Computer lost nearly 9% after announcing the sale of 2 million shares that could raise around $2 billion.

Spire Global jumped 30.40% following the announcement of a collaboration with Nvidia for AI-based weather forecasting.

(Written by Jean Terzian)

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