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General Mills ( GIS ) falls after cutting annual sales forecast

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Venture Global ( VG ) up after report Trump to clear exports from

Louisiana project

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Fed rate decision due at 2 p.m. ET

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Indexes up: Dow 0.51%, S&P 500 0.43%, Nasdaq 0.55%

(Updates to after markets open)

By Pranav Kashyap and Johann M Cherian

March 19 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes rose on

Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve's widely anticipated

monetary policy decision, at a time when worries linger about

trade policies and their impact on the economy.

The central bank is expected to leave its benchmark

overnight interest rate unchanged in the 4.25%-4.50% range, when

it releases its policy statement at 2 p.m. ET (1800 GMT).

Traders see the Fed lowering borrowing costs by at least two

25-basis point cuts by December, with the first expected in

July, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Focus will be on new economic projections from policymakers

that will give an idea of how they feel U.S. President Donald

Trump's policies will affect economic growth, inflation and

unemployment.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak later in the

day.

"The Fed is facing the same uncertainty that market

participants are in terms of how tariffs are actually going to

play out," said Jordan Rizzuto, chief investment officer at

GammaRoad Capital Partners.

The European Union will tighten steel import quotas to

reduce inflows by a further 15% from April, a senior EU official

said, in a move aimed at preventing cheap steel flooding the

European market after Washington imposed new tariffs.

Boeing ( BA ) shares jumped 6% after the aircraft maker said

it doesn't see a near-term impact from tariffs.

Analysts have said that markets are now awaiting Trump's

announcements regarding reciprocal trade barriers on April 1.

At 09:48 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 211.05 points, or 0.51%, to 41,792.36, the S&P 500

gained 23.94 points, or 0.43%, to 5,638.60, and the Nasdaq

Composite gained 96.19 points, or 0.55%, to 17,600.31.

Eight of the 11 S&P 500 sectors rose, led by a 0.8% gain in

consumer discretionary stocks.

Tesla gained 3.1% after the EV maker logged

declines over the past two sessions.

U.S. stocks have come under severe selling pressure in the

recent weeks after a raft of economic indicators signaled a

cooling of the U.S. economy amid trade policy uncertainties.

Multiple companies have also lowered their annual forecasts,

the latest being General Mills ( GIS ). The Pillsbury owner

lowered its annual sales outlook, sending its shares down 3.5%.

The benchmark S&P 500 index confirmed last week it

was in correction following a 10% drop from its recent high. The

tech-heavy Nasdaq also confirmed a correction on March

6, while the blue-chip Dow is about 2% away from the correction

threshold.

The allure of safe havens continued, with gold prices

touching a record high again on Wednesday.

Nvidia ( NVDA ) rose 0.9%. CEO Jensen Huang said on Tuesday

the company was well placed to navigate a shift in the

artificial intelligence industry.

Venture Global ( VG ) rose 7.4% on Wednesday after a report

said the Trump administration is set to grant the LNG producer

conditional approval to export natural gas from a proposed

Louisiana facility.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 1.68-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE and a 1.64-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted one new 52-week high and no new low,

while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 11 new highs and 43 new

lows.