US STOCKS-Wall Street moves higher; Fed policy meeting eyed

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* Fed likely to resist pressure to cut rates
* FOMC due to release statement on Wednesday
* Boeing up on hiking 20-yr industry demand outlook
* Array surges after Pfizer's $10.64 bln deal
* Indexes up: Dow 0.28%, S&P 0.30%, Nasdaq 0.77%

(Updates prices, comments)
By Shreyashi Sanyal
June 17 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes climbed
higher on Monday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the pack,
as investors awaited a crucial Federal Reserve meeting that is
expected to lay the groundwork for an interest rate cut later
this year.
The Fed is likely to leave borrowing costs unchanged at its
two-day policy meeting starting Tuesday, but its policy
statement will give insight into the impact of trade war,
President Donald Trump's push for rate cut and weaker economic
data on the monetary policy. Markets expect a cut in interest rates as early as July. The
S&P 500 index .SPX has risen 5% so far this month on this
hope, but that rally petered out 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 gained 0.37%, while the broader S&P
500 financial sector .SPSY edged up 0.13%.
The Nasdaq Composite index .IXIC rose after declining 0.5%
on Friday 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 rose between 0.5% and
3%.
At 11:23 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 72.03 points, or 0.28%, at 26,161.64, the S&P 500 was up 8.59
points, or 0.30%, at 2,895.57 and the Nasdaq was up 60.12
points, or 0.77%, at 7,856.78.
Boeing Co BA.N gained 2.13% and lifted the Dow higher,
after the planemaker raised its rolling 20-year industry
forecast for passenger aircraft to $6.8 trillion. Keeping the gains in check on the blue-chip index was a
3.27% drop 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 0.59% after a
report that Imperial Capital had downgraded the entertainment
conglomerate's shares to "in line."
Array Biopharma Inc ARRY.O surged 56.15% after Pfizer Inc
PFE.N agreed to buy the drugmaker for $10.64 billion to beef
up its cancer portfolio. Pfizer edged 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 1.39-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.49-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 32 new 52-week highs and four new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 48 new highs and 62 new lows.