Stocks turn higher on Wall Street

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks turned higher in late morning trading on Wall Street Tuesday as investors await Wednesday's decision by the Federal Reserve on interest rates.

The S&P 500 rose 0.8% as of 11:38 a.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 209 points, or 0.6%, to 33,278 and the Nasdaq rose 0.3%.

Energy stocks made solid gains following encouraging earnings reports from several oil and gas companies. BP jumped 7.7% after reporting its highest quarterly profit in more than a decade thanks to surging oil and gas prices. Devon Energy rose 8.8% and Diamondback Energy gained 5.5% after they reported strong financial results.

Technology stocks also gained ground after a mixed morning. Many companies in the sector have pricey stock values and therefore have more force in pushing the major indexes up or down. Apple rose 0.6%.

Wall Street's key focus over the next several days is the Fed. The central bank is meeting on Tuesday and will release a statement on Wednesday. Investors expect it to raise its benchmark rate by twice the usual amount this week as it steps up its fight against inflation, which is at a four-decade high. It has already raised its key overnight rate once, the first such increase since 2018, and Wall Street is expecting several big increases over the coming months.

The Fed's aggressive shift to raise interest rates comes as rising inflation puts more pressure on businesses and consumers. Higher costs for energy and other commodities have prompted many businesses to raise prices and issue cautious forecasts to their investors.