By Kate Gibson
U.S. stocks resumed their climb Tuesday after the release of
minutes from the Federal Reserve's last policy-setting meeting
yielded nothing unsettling to investors looking for interest rates
to remain low in the months ahead.
"We are still in a sweet spot," Doug Roberts, chief investment
strategist for Channel Capital Research, said of an economic
climate that is improving, yet remains too troubled for central
bankers to signal a change in monetary policy.
"Unemployment is the key, it's difficult to raise rates when
unemployment is as high as it is," said Roberts.
Relief over the FOMC minutes helped the Dow Jones Industrial
Average (DJI) edging closer to the psychologically key 11,000
level, which has not been topped since late September 2008.
The Dow industrials rose 10.43 points at 10,983.98, with 22 of
its 30 components in the green.
Aluminum giant Alcoa Inc. (AA) fronted blue-chip gains, up
2.2%.
The S&P 500 Index (SPX) rose 3.66 points to 1,191.1,
declining nearly 1 point to 1,186.9, with financials and energy
shares up the most.
"Thirty-three percent of the S&P 500 moves with commodity
prices, and today we got a decoupling of the currency-commodity
relationship," Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies
& Co., said of the trend that has had commodities moving in the
opposite direction of the U.S. dollar.
Crude futures gained 22 cents to end at $86.84 a barrel, while
gold futures advanced more than $2 to $1,136 an ounce.
The dollar index (DXY), which contrasts the greenback against
six currency rivals, was up 0.4% at 81.39, while Treasurys advanced
after the government's sale of $40 billion in 3-year notes.
Dampening enthusiasm in the technology sector, CA Inc. (CA)
shares fell 1.7% after the maker of business software said it would
cut about 1,000 jobs and forecast 2010 results would be at the low
end of its forecast.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) added 11.88 points to
2,441.41.
Shares of Massey Energy Co. (MEE) fell 11% after a blast on
Monday has left at least 25 miners dead at one of the company's
sites in West Virginia. .
Decliners and advancers were nearly even on the New York Stock
Exchange, where 610 million shares had exchanged hands as of 3 p.m.
Eastern. Composite volume stood at 3.1 billion shares.