US stocks open higher ahead of more Fed speeches

U.S. stocks opened higher Tuesday, with more U.S. Federal Reserve officials due to deliver speeches during the day. Major stock indices ended lower on Monday as Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee this year, expressed optimism over the U.S. economy, which raised concerns that he would support tapering quantitative easing in advance. St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard and New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley are due to speak later Tuesday on monetary policy and ultra-low interest rates. No major economic data are scheduled to be released during the day. A team of strategists at Goldman Sachs lifted their forecast for the S&P 500 targets through 2015 on Monday. "We expect the S&P 500 index will rise by 5 percent from the current level to 1,750 by year-end 2013, advance by 9 percent to 1,900 in 2014, and climb by 10 percent to 2100 in 2015," the strategists said in a research note. In corporate news, J.P Morgan Chase Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jamie Dimon will keep his dual roles at the company after preliminary tallies of a vote showed a proposal to split the two roles was narrowly defeated, according to a New York Times report. The bank's annual meeting will be held in Tampa, Florida on Tuesday. Apple's CEO Tim Cook will defend the company before Congress on Tuesday, after a Senate report showed Apple used its Irish subsidiaries to avoid taxes. Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 44.36 points, or 0.29 percent, to 15,379.64 points. The S&P 500 was up 3.82 points, or 0.23 percent, to 1,670.11 points. The Nasdaq Composite rose 4.68 points, or 0.13 percent, to 3,501.11 points.