March 19 (UPI) — The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose for the fourth consecutive day Monday, as the Federal Reserve prepares to set interest rates later this week.
The Dow was up 65.23 points, or 0.25 percent, at the end of trading Monday, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.34 percent and the S&P 500 increased 0.37 percent ahead of the Fed’s two-day meeting Tuesday.
Boeing stocks fell 1.5 percent on Monday after The Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Transportation and federal prosecutors were investigating the development of the company’s 737 Max planes after an Ethiopian Airlines crash last week.
Shares of Facebook were also on the decline, falling 3.3 percent. Needham & Co. analyst Laura Martin downgraded the company to hold from buy, citing concerns about the social media company’s move toward privacy and encrypted messages as well as more potential regulatory scrutiny, CNBC reported.
The markets ended with gains for the day after a strong showing in other portions of the tech sector, including Amazon and Apple.
Apple stock was up 1 percent after the company unveiled its new iPad Air, iPad mini on Monday, adding keyboard and Apple Pencil support to both items for the first time, while Amazon rose more than 1.5 percent.
After Monday’s gain the S&P 500 has risen 13 percent on the year and is on track for its largest quarterly gain since the third quarter of 2009.
