US stocks rise on hopes Federal Reserve will extend Operation Twist

Investors piled into US stocks today on expectations for further monetary stimulus to boost the world's largest economy as the Federal Open Market Committee began a two-day meeting.

Positive economic data also lifted sentiment in the market. Building permits, a proxy for future housing construction, shot to the highest level in nearly four years in May, MarketWatch said, citing data from the Commerce Department.

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The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up 0.91 percent to 1,357.07 in the morning session, putting it on track for its fourth consecutive day of gains, according to the New York Times.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.84 percent higher at 12,849.10 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq was up 1.07 percent to 2,926.25.

“It's a little bit of anticipation ahead of the Fed meeting," Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co. of Lake Oswego, Oregon, told Reuters.

"To look at it, I would say 90 percent of it is Fed action, a little bit is maybe progress in Greece toward forming their government and a successful Spanish auction but at high yields."

Investors are betting on the Fed extending its $400 billion stimulus program called Operation Twist, which ends this month, Bloomberg said.

The Fed’s meeting on interest rate policy ends Wednesday and is taking place as leaders from the Group of 20 leading and emerging economies meet in Mexico to discuss ways to combat the deepening euro zone crisis.

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