U.S. stocks made gains Tuesday, as investors prepared for key decisions out of Europe and from the Federal Reserve (Fed) later this week. In international economic news, Germany's Constitutional Court will rule Wednesday on the legality of the European Stability Mechanism, a permanent rescue fund that is expected to have a maximum lending capacity of 500 billion euros. In U.S. economic news, investors were waiting to hear whether the Fed will announce new stimulus measures when it finishes its two-day policy meeting Thursday. In company news, financial stocks were among the biggest gainers of the day. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley all finished higher. Hewlett-Packard said it expects to lay off 29,000 workers over the next two years, 2,000 more than it originally expected. Shares of the PC maker gained nearly 3 percent, making it among the leaders on the Dow. The dollar lost ground on the euro and the pound, but gained ground against the yen. Light sweet crude oil for October delivery rose 63 cents to $97.17 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures gained $3.10 to $1,734.90. The Dow hit its highest level since December 2007, while the S&P 500 nearly hit the multi-year high it reached last week. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 69.07, or 0.52 percent, to 13,323.36. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 4.48, or 0.31 percent, to 1,433.56. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index moved up 0.51, or 0.02 percent, to 3,104.53.
