07:19 AM EDT, 09/17/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US equity measures were tracking in the green before the opening bell Tuesday, ahead of the Federal Reserve's latest two-day monetary policy meeting and last month's retail sales report.

Standard & Poor's 500 rose 0.4%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3% and the Nasdaq increased 0.6% in premarket activity. The majority of Asian exchanges were trending upwards, while European bourses were heading north midday on the continent.

The Fed's monetary policy-setting committee is set to meet today with a decision on interest rates expected on Wednesday. There is a 65% chance the central bank will cut interest rates by 50 basis points, with the remaining odds in the favor of a 25-basis-point reduction, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

Also on Tuesday's economic calendar, the retail sales report for August is out at 8:30 am ET, followed by the industrial production report for the same month at 9:15 am. July's business inventories report and the housing market index for September are both due at 10 am.

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Lorie Logan is scheduled to speak at 10 am.

Microsoft's ( MSFT ) stock inclined 1.8% pre-bell as the technology giant announced a share repurchase program of up to $60 billion and increased its quarterly dividend by 10%. Intel ( INTC ) advanced 6.4% after the chipmaker disclosed plans to turn its foundry business into an independent unit within the company and expanded its partnership with Amazon.com's (AMZN) cloud business.

Ferguson Enterprises ( FERG ) is set to report its latest financial results before the bell. FedEx ( FDX ) , Lennar ( LEN ) , General Mills ( GIS ) and Darden Restaurants ( DRI ) post earnings later in the week.

Before the opening bell, bitcoin gained 2.2% to $59,202, West Texas Intermediate crude oil slipped 0.3% to $69.87 a barrel, 10-year US Treasuries were little changed at 3.62% and gold retreated 0.4% to $2,599 an ounce.