Stocks play it cool ahead of the Fed

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq all gained in early trading. The Nasdaq was up more than 0.6%, thanks to a big rally in shares of Twitter (TWTR, Tech30).

Economy warms up: The U.S. economy has emerged from deep freeze. Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic growth, increased at an annual rate of 4% in the second quarter, the Commerce Department said.

The second-quarter growth rate was better than expected, and the decline in the first quarter was revised up to 2.1% from 2.9%.

The economy has rebounded from the weather-driven slowdown in the first three months of the year, said Joseph Lake, an analyst at The Economist Intelligence Unit. The overall growth rate for the first half of 2014 is 1.8%, he said, which is not far below the 2% average for the past few years.

"The U.S. is, for the most part, growing at a reasonably healthy pace," said Lake.

The job market is also showing signs of strength. Payroll processing firm ADP (ADP) said private sector employers added 218,000 jobs in July. That was down slightly from the month before, but the trend in private sector payrolls is still consistent with a "steadily improving job market," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics.

Still to come, the Federal Reserve will release a statement outlining its latest monetary policies. It's widely believed that the central bank will announce another $10 billion pullback in monthly bond purchases, but investors will be scrutinizing every word of the statement for clues as to when the Fed plans to raise interest rates.

Stock market movers -- Twitter, Amgen, Barclays: Twitter (TWTR, Tech30) shares soared right out of the gate. The social media company posted surprisingly strong second-quarter sales late Tuesday.

Shares in Amgen (AMGN) gained after the company announced it was cutting up to 2,900 jobs, or about 12-15% of its workforce.

In London, investors pushed up Barclays (BCS) shares by about 3.5% after the bank's first half earnings were well received.

Related: Fear & Greed Index still gripped by fear

Sprint (S) shares gained after the telecommunications company reported better-than-expected earnings. Kraft Foods (KRFT) and Whole Foods (WFM) will report after the close.

Related: CNNMoney's Tech30

Russian market mystery: Trading was halted on Moscow's main market for stock and bond trading, according to a statement from the exchange operator. The cause is being investigated and trading will resume "in due course," the statement said. Russian stocks had been moving higher before the interruption, with investors relieved that new European and U.S. sanctions against Russia were not as bad as feared.

European markets were mixed in afternoon trading. Asian markets mostly closed with small gains.

First Published: July 30, 2014: 9:45 AM ET

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