The S&P 500 Index rose 0.2 percent to 1,908.12 at 11:40 a.m. in New York, after earlier falling 0.9 percent.

“Activity may be somewhat muted ahead of the Fed meeting, but people are focused so much on the comments from Apple that there’s probably a little bit of a negative bias today,” said Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank in Cleveland, a unit of KeyCorp that oversees more than $25 billion in assets. “Comments from the Fed may be a bit of a boost to the market to the extent that they lean dovish.”

Anxiety about global growth, fueled by China’s slowdown and a rout in oil prices, has hammered stocks since the start of the year, wiping as much as $2.4 trillion from the value of U.S. equities alone. The S&P 500 is heading for its worst January since 2009, down 7 percent, with results from Apple and Boeing offering little relief from worries that weakness in China is festering.

Investors will scrutinize the Fed’s policy statement for signals on the trajectory of interest-rate increases after recent market turmoil. Traders are pricing in virtually no chance of an increase today, following last month’s first hike in almost a decade. The probability of a raise in March has fallen to 26 percent, from even odds at the start of the year.

Fed officials have emphasized that the course for rates depends on progress in the economy. A report today showed purchases of new homes in the U.S. surged in December to the highest level in 10 months, closing out the best year for housing since 2007. Sales jumped a stronger-than-forecast 10.8 percent last month. Data yesterday showed consumer confidence improved in January to a three-month high.

The earnings season is also in full swing, with at least 32 S&P 500 companies reporting today, including Facebook Inc., PayPal Holdings Inc. and EBay Inc. Of the firms that have posted quarterly results so far, 79 percent beat earnings estimates, while about half of them exceeded sales projections.

Even as the pace of the reporting season picks up, equity investors have held to their fixation this year on the direction of crude prices. The S&P 500 has moved in virtual lockstep with oil, with their relationship reaching the tightest since 2011. West Texas Intermediate crude futures swung between gains and losses following weekly inventory data, after earlier losing more than 4 percent.

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