Stocks see gains ahead of anticipated Fed decision to leave interest rates unchanged

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Wall Street pointed toward gains before markets opened today ahead of more corporate earnings and the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates, the Associated Press reports. Futures for the S&P 500 gained 0.7% before the bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%.

McDonald’s shares jumped nearly 3% after the burger chain reported better-than-expected sales and profit in the third quarter. Also coming this week are the latest quarterly results from Pfizer, Caterpillar, JetBlue, CVS Health, Starbucks, and Apple.

A mixed set of economic reports Friday didn’t appear to alter Wall Street’s expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep its benchmark rate of above 5.25% unchanged when it wraps up its two-day meeting Wednesday.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury has been hovering at levels not seen since 2007. Today it was at 4.85%. The yield on the 2-year Treasury was up to 5.05% early this morning from 5.01% Friday.

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A barrel of benchmark U.S. oil fell $1.11 to $84.43 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, slipped $1 to $87.20 per barrel.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 149.73 Japanese yen from 149.59 yen.

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