Wall Street up ahead of Fed statement, eyes on Cyprus

The Dow industrials hit a record intraday high on Wednesday as US stocks resumed their rise ahead of a statement from the Federal Reserve expected to reinforce the view that the Fed will keep a floor under the economy.

The Fed will release the Federal Open Market Committee statement and the Summary of Economic Projections at 2 pm (1800 GMT). Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will host a news conference around 2:30 pm. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 54.55 points or 0.38 per cent, to 14,510.37. The S&P 500 gained 7.83 points or 0.51 per cent, to 1,556.17. The Nasdaq Composite added 14.42 points or 0.45 per cent, to 3,243.52. The housing sector's stocks ranked among the best performers after Lennar Corp's first-quarter profit beat analysts expectations.