03:45 PM EDT, 03/19/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark equity indexes were higher ahead of Tuesday's close as the Federal Reserve kicked off its two-day monetary policy meeting.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.6% at 39,038.4, while the S&P 500 rose 0.4% to 5,168.9. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.2% to 16,136.2. Among sectors, utilities and energy led the gainers. Communication services, real estate, and materials were losing.

Markets are widely expecting the central bank's Federal Open Market Committee to hold interest rates steady at 5.25% to 5.50% on Wednesday, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. That would mark a fifth straight pause.

Policymakers are likely to remain "noncommittal about the timing of the first rate cut as inflation has surprised to the upside recently and there are no glaring fissures in the economy," Oxford Economics said in a Tuesday note.

The US two-year yield fell 4.2 basis points to 4.69%, while the 10-year rate declined four basis points to 4.3%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 1.1% to $83.62 per barrel.