US STOCKS-Faith in the Fed pushes Wall Street higher

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* FOMC to release statement on Wednesday
* FANG and tech lead the market higher
* Indexes up: Dow 0.17%, S&P 500 0.23%, Nasdaq 0.79%

(Updated to afternoon)
By Noel Randewich
June 17 (Reuters) - Wall Street climbed on Monday, with
Facebook, Apple and Amazon leading the way, as investors awaited
a key Federal Reserve meeting that is expected to lay the
groundwork for an interest rate cut later this year.
The U.S. central bank is expected to leave borrowing costs
unchanged at its two-day policy meeting starting Tuesday, but
its statement will provide insight into the impact of the
U.S.-China trade war, President Donald Trump's calls for a rate
cut and weaker economic data. With investors expecting a rate cut as early as July, the
S&P 500 index .SPX has risen 5% this month after tumbling in
May due to fears about the U.S.-China trade war.
Buttressing expectations of a rate cut this year, the New
York Federal Reserve said its “Empire State” gauge of business
growth in New York state posted a record fall this month to its
weakest level in more than 2-1/2 years, suggesting an abrupt
contraction in regional activity. "The Empire manufacturing numbers that came out were
dreadful," said Jack Ablin, Chief Investment Officer at Cresset
Wealth Advisors in Chicago. "We're back to that the idea that
bad news is good news, with the Fed meeting around the corner,
and that the Fed will respond with lower rates."
The Fed's rate-setting committee is due to release its
statement at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) on Wednesday, with Fed Chair
Jerome Powell holding a press conference shortly after.
The S&P banks index .SPXBK , which tend to benefit from a
rising interest rate environment, dipped 0.36%, while the
broader S&P 500 financial sector .SPSY edged down 0.40%.
Volatile investor favorites Facebook FB.O , Apple AAPL.O ,
Amazon AMZN.O , Microsoft MSFT.O and Netflix NFLX.O
contributed more than any other stocks to the S&P 500's gain.
At 2:33 p.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 0.17% at 26,134.34 points and the S&P 500 .SPX had
gained 0.23% to 2,893.51.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 0.79% to 7,858.39.
Keeping the gains in check for the blue-chip Dow index was a
3.7% decline in Dow Inc DOW.N after brokerage BMO Capital
Markets downgraded the chemicals maker's stock to "market
perform" on rising macro uncertainty.
Array Biopharma Inc ARRY.O surged 56.6% after Pfizer Inc
PFE.N agreed to buy the drugmaker for $10.64 billion to beef
up its cancer portfolio. Pfizer was mostly unchanged.
Investors are also looking forward to the G20 summit at the
end of the month for an update on the progress in talks to
resolve the prolonged trade war between the United States and
China.
The S&P 500 posted 35 new 52-week highs and 4 new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 58 new highs and 77 new lows.