Wall Street opens higher ahead of Fed meeting

NEW YORK (AA) – Wall Street opened with gains on Wednesday before the Federal Reserve's much-awaited interest rate decision.

The Dow Jones rose 30 points to start the day at 17,705 points. The S&P 500 was up 3 points to open at 2,078, while the Nasdaq gained 7 points to begin the day at 4,851.

The indexes were on a losing streak for four consecutive days as oil prices began to decrease again.

The price of crude oil has continued to fall on Wednesday. At the opening bell, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was trading at $47.74 per barrel with a 1.5 percent decline, and international benchmark Brent crude was at $48.81 a barrel with a 2 percent decrease.

The markets are focusing on the Fed's June meeting on Wednesday. The last time the bank increased its benchmark interest rate was in December.