US STOCKS-Apple, Boeing lift Wall Street ahead of Fed decision

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* Fed expected to hold rates, statement due at 2:00 pm ET
* Apple, Boeing boost Dow after earnings
* Starbucks slips as virus prompts store closures in China
* Indexes up: Dow 0.38%, S&P 0.29%, Nasdaq 0.34%

(Updates to early afternoon)
By Sruthi Shankar
Jan 29 (Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes rose on Wednesday,
boosted by shares of Apple, Boeing and General Electric
following their results, while investors assessed the economic
damage of the fast-spreading coronavirus outbreak.
The Federal Reserve is also in focus, with the central bank
expected to release its monetary policy statement at 2:00 pm ET,
followed by Chairman Jerome Powell's news conference.
With interest rates expected to remain on hold, market
participants are keen to know the central bank's take on
adjustments to its balance sheet and the impact of China's
coronavirus outbreak on global growth. Since the Fed cut rates in October, its third and final
reduction in 2019, policymakers have agreed to keep their target
policy rate in the current range of 1.50% and 1.75%.
"Investors will be paying close attention to Powell's
comments, where I think we could get a little bit of a surprise
in the assessment of inflation," said Ryan Sweet, head of
monetary policy research at Moody's Analytics.
"You could start to see the Fed put more emphasis on the
inflation undershoot, which would be dovish. They're not raising
rates anytime soon. But if inflation fails to accelerate, I
won't take a rate cut off the table."
Apple Inc AAPL.O gained 2.8% after the iPhone maker
reported earnings for the holiday shopping quarter above
analysts' expectations, even as it braced for more disruptions
in virus-hit China. Boeing Co BA.N rose 2% after the planemaker forecast
nearly $19 billion in costs related to the grounding of its 737
MAX jets, smaller than what many analysts had expected.
As earnings gather pace, analysts expect profit for S&P 500
companies to be flat in the fourth quarter, an improvement over
a 0.6% decline estimated at the start of the season, according
to Refinitiv data.
General Electric GE.N jumped 10.4% after the industrial
conglomerate set higher cash target for 2020. At 12:58 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
rose 0.38% to 28,831.31. The S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.29% to
3,285.77 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 0.34% at
9,300.74.
However, several companies warned of disruption to their
operations due to the virus outbreak and a Chinese government
economist was quoted as saying the country's economic growth may
drop to 5% or even lower. Starbucks Corp SBUX.O dropped 3.1% after warning of a
financial hit as it closed thousands of restaurants and adjusted
operating hours in China. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.32-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a
1.26-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 41 new 52-week highs and seven new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 64 new highs and 47 new lows.