WALL Street stocks advanced yesterday for a second straight session, shrugging off early weakness ahead of a Federal Reserve decision.

The gains follow a bruising stretch for equities that has left markets “extremely oversold,” said Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management.

Investors have been reassured that US Treasury yields have stabilised, while oil prices and the US dollar have also not continued to soar, Hogan said.

Analysts expect the Fed to hold interest rates steady today.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.4% at 33,052.87.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.7% to 4,193.80, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.5% to 12,851.24.

US consumer confidence fell for a third straight month last month, with Americans concerned about rising costs and elevated interest rates.

The survey also pointed to increased worry over war and turmoil in the Middle East, according to the Conference Board.

Among individual companies, Caterpillar sank more than 6% despite reporting better-than-expected profits on strength in North America and the Middle East.

However, analysts at Briefing.com said Caterpillar’s results were not as robust as in the prior quarter, a “troubling” trend in a period of “nagging headwinds and elevated near-term uncertainty.”

JetBlue plunged 10.5% as it reported a quarterly loss and projected another adjusted loss in the fourth quarter. The carrier pointed to weak traffic during “off-peak periods.”

Pfizer was flat as it reported a loss of US$2.4 billion (RM11.43 billion) in the third quarter in the latest indication of the impact of much weaker sales for Covid-related products. – AFP, November 1, 2023.