NEW YORK, May 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks opened higher Tuesday as investors awaited key speeches from Federal Reserve officials as well as a batch of first-quarter earnings reports.
Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari, Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren, and Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan will deliver speeches on Tuesday.
Investors will closely watch their speeches for hints about the upcoming policy decision.
The Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rates unchanged last week as it waited for more data to assess the U.S. economic outlook. But the Fed policymakers hinted at a possible rate hike in June.
Market expectations for a June rate hike were 87.7 percent, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool Tuesday.
In corporate news, shares of Marriott International Inc. gained 6.43 percent in early trading after the company reported better-than-expected earnings on Monday. Its first-quarter diluted earnings per share totaled 0.94 U.S. dollars, an 11 percent increase year on year.
Disney, News Corp., and Discovery Communications are among the companies that will report the first-quarter earnings after the bell.
The CBOE Volatility Index, widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, closed down 0.80 point at 9.77 on Monday, lowest in more than two decades.
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 8.17 points, or 0.04 percent, to 21,020.45. The S&P 500 added 1.71 points, or 0.07 percent, to 2,401.09. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 6.49 points, or 0.11 percent, to 6,109.15. Enditem
