US STOCKS-Wall Street holds on to gains; Fed policy meeting eyed

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* FOMC to release statement on Wednesday
* Boeing up after raising 20-yr industry demand outlook
* Array surges after Pfizer's $10.64 bln deal
* Indexes up: Dow 0.21%, S&P 0.24%, Nasdaq 0.79%

(Updated to early afternoon)
By Shreyashi Sanyal
June 17 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes rose on
Monday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the pack, 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 likely 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 push for a rate
cut and weaker economic data on monetary policy. Markets expect a cut in interest rates as early as July, and
the S&P 500 index .SPX has risen 5% so far in June on the
hope, but the rally lost steam in the past week.
"Most people do not think that there will be a rate cut day
after, but they do not want to jump in and make any major asset
reallocations until they get more guidance from the Fed," said
Mayra Valladares, managing principal at MRV Associates in New
York.
"Investors want to see what language Fed officials use about
recent economic data to see if the data will influence the Fed
to cut rates later in the year."
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.
Banking stocks .SPXBK , which tend to benefit from a rising
interest rate environment, dipped 0.20%, while the broader S&P
500 financial sector .SPSY edged down 0.28%.
The Nasdaq Composite index .IXIC rose, as shares of
marquee companies such Facebook Inc FB.O , Apple Inc AAPL.O ,
Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O , Microsoft Corp MSFT.O and Alphabet
Inc GOOGL.O gained between 0.5% and 3%.
At 13:02 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 55.15 points, or 0.21%, at 26,144.76 and the S&P 500 was
up 6.79 points, or 0.24%, at 2,893.77. The Nasdaq was up 61.55
points, or 0.79%, at 7,858.21.
Boeing Co BA.N gained 2.16% and lifted the Dow, after the
planemaker raised its rolling 20-year industry forecast for
passenger aircraft to $6.8 trillion. Keeping the gains in check for the blue-chip index was a 4%
decline in shares of Dow Inc DOW.N after brokerage BMO Capital
Markets downgraded the chemicals maker's stock to "market
perform" on rising macro uncertainty.
Shares of Walt Disney Co DIS.N dropped 0.61% after a
report that Imperial Capital had downgraded the entertainment
conglomerate's shares to "in line."
Array Biopharma Inc ARRY.O surged about 57% after Pfizer
Inc PFE.N agreed to buy the drugmaker for $10.64 billion to
beef up its cancer portfolio. Pfizer edged 0.3% lower.
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.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.37-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.47-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 32 new 52-week highs and four new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 53 new highs and 71 new lows.