US stock indices gain ground ahead of the Fed's minutes

Most US stock indices advanced early on Tuesday ahead of the important Federal Reserve’s policy meeting this week. 

The Fed will open its two-day policy meeting later today to discuss latest inflation data which continued to prove resilient. 

Tomorrow, the Fed will announce its results, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell holding a subsequent press conference to discuss the decisions. 

There’s a 99% chance that the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates unchanged according to the Fedwatch tool.

Earlier government data showed housing starts surged by 10.7% m/m in February, and by 5.9% y/y.

Building permits rose by 1.9% m/m last month, and by 2.4% y/y. 

On trading, Dow Jones rose 0.5%, or 197 points to 38,985, while S&P 500 rose 0.1%, or 2 points to 5151, as NASDAQ shed 0.3%, or 41 points to 16,061.