U.S. stocks open higher, eyes on Fed; Dow Jones up 0.54%

Investing.com - U.S. stocks opened higher on Wednesday, ahead of comments by the Federal Reserve later in the day, while investors followed developments in Cyprus after the local parliament rejected a proposed bank deposit tax.

During early U.S. trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.54%, the S&P 500 index advanced 0.59%, while the Nasdaq Composite index gained 0.64%.

Cyprus’s President Nicos Anastasiades called an emergency meeting with political leaders to look at alternatives after parliament rejected the terms of the bailout agreement.

Following the vote, the European Central Bank said it will provide liquidity to Cypriot banks within existing rules.

Sentiment found some support however, amid growing expectations that the European Union will renegotiate a deal with Cyprus to keep the country in the euro zone.

Financial stocks were broadly higher, as shares in Bank of America advanced 0.63% and Goldman Sachs climbed 0.61%, while Citigroup jumped 0.87%.

JP Morgan also gained ground, up 0.41%, following reports the U.S. lender reached a USD546 million settlement with the trustee liquidating the failed broker-dealer unit of MF Global Holdings.

In addition, the Wall Street Journal revealed earlier that a key U.S. bank regulator has called for improvement in the management of JP Morgan, amid concerns over the multi-billion dollar "London Whale" trading loss last year.

Among tech stocks, as Adobe surged 5.45% after reporting first quarter sales of USD1.01 billion, beating the average analyst estimate of USD985.8 million.

Separately, Apple was said to have hired Adobe Systems Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch, adding a software executive who helped build some of the earliest Macintosh applications.

On the downside, Yahoo shares slid 0.32%, amid reports the company is in talks to acquire a controlling stake in Dailymotion, one of the world's most popular online video websites.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Yahoo could purchase as much as 75% of Dailymotion, which is owned by French telecommunications group France Telecom.

Among earnings, FedEx dove 4.09% after the package-delivery company posted lower-than-expected earnings due to weakness in its air express business.

Other stocks in focus included Oracle and Jabil Circuit, expected to post earnings after the closing bell.

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were sharply higher. The EURO STOXX 50 surged 1.44%, France’s CAC 40 rallied 1.34%, Germany's DAX gained 0.77%, while Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.29%.

During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped 0.97%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index remained closed for a national holiday.

Investors were looking ahead to the outcome of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting later in the trading day, after data last week showing that U.S. inflation was contained left the way clear for the bank to continue its asset purchase program.