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China news, interest-rate prospects buoy stocks
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NEW YORK - More signs that interest rates will remain low and upbeat economic news from China gave investors new reason to keep buying stocks Wednesday.
Federal Reserve officials signaled in speeches late Tuesday that a recovery in the economy is likely to be weak. Investors took that as another sign that policymakers will hold interest rates low to help resuscitate growth. Expectations of low rates weighed on the dollar and gave a boost to commodities. Oil and gold held their advances even after the dollar pulled off of a 15-month low.
Investors also drew encouragement from a 16.1 percent jump in industrial production in China. That fanned expectations that a broader global recovery is gaining steam.
A jump in orders at luxury home builder Toll Brothers Inc. added to hopes that the U.S. economy is improving.
The mix of news was enough to push the Dow Jones industrial average up 44 points to its sixth straight gain. Both the Dow and the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index closed at 13-month highs.
Trading was light because of the Veterans Day holiday, but volume has been weak for most of the month. The bond markets were closed.
The Dow rose 44.29, or 0.4 percent, to 10,291.26. It rose as high as 10,341.97, its best level since Oct. 3, 2008. The Dow is up 519 points, or 5.3 percent, in six days.
The S&P 500 index rose 5.50, or 0.5 percent, to 1,098.51 and during trading topped 1,100 for the first time since last year. It hit a 13-month high of 1,105.37.
The Nasdaq composite index rose 15.82, or 0.7 percent, to 2,166.90.
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