By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Global stock indexes were higher and the U.S. dollar was nearly flat on Wednesday ahead of the afternoon's Federal Reserve's policy decision, while Treasury yields slipped on Treasury Department plans to "gradually" boost the size of its debt auctions to meet financing needs.
The Treasury Department said the size of most auctions from November to January 2024 will increase and that it will need one additional quarter of increases to meet its funding plans.
With the U.S. central bank widely expected to hold rates steady, investors will closely monitor Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech to gauge where interest rates are headed and how long they will stay higher.
Data showed a smaller-than-expected increase in U.S. private payrolls, which took some steam out of a still-tight labor market.
Private payrolls rose by 113,000 jobs and data for September was unrevised to show an 89,000 addition, as previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast private payrolls rising 150,000 last month.
"For now, the Fed is very much in wait and see mode," said Niall O'Sullivan, chief investment officer, multi-asset strategies EMEA, at Neuberger Berman.
The Japanese yen recovered somewhat on Wednesday after falling sharply the day before, when the Bank of Japan (BOJ) tweaked its bond yield control policy, loosening its grip on long-term rates and pushing the currency to a one-year low against the dollar.
That was followed by a fresh and sterner warning from Japan's top currency diplomat Masato Kanda on Wednesday that authorities stood ready to respond to recent "one-sided, sharp" moves in the currency.
The Japanese yen strengthened 0.47% versus the greenback at 150.96 per dollar.
The U.S. dollar index was last up 0.07%.
On Wall Street, megacap stocks gained as bond yields eased.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 162.73 points, or 0.49%, to 33,215.6; the S&P 500 gained 30.21 points, or 0.72%, to 4,224.01; and the Nasdaq Composite added 107.09 points, or 0.83%, to 12,958.33.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.83% and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.78%.
Japan's Nikkei rose about 2% as investors remained on red alert for yen-buying intervention from authorities.
The yield on 10-year Treasury notes fell 0.4 basis point to 4.871%.
Oil prices gained ahead of the Fed decision, with investors also keeping a close eye on the latest developments in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
U.S. crude recently rose 2.41% to $82.97 per barrel and Brent was at $86.95, up 2.27% on the day.
Earlier data Wednesday showed Asia's manufacturers faced worsening pressure in October with factory activity in China slipping back into decline, clouding recovery prospects for the region's major exporters already squeezed by weaker global demand and higher prices.
(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; additional reporting by Lawrence White in London, Ankur Banerjee in Singapore and Amruta Khandekar and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Alison Williams and Mark Potter)
