Stocks rose Tuesday as investors looked beyond the pessimistic Federal Reserve (Fed) outlook on the U.S. economy and instead purchased shares lowered in last year's huge sell-off. Stocks kept morning gains before moving higher, even after the mid-afternoon release of notes from the last Fed policy meeting. In the notes, the central bankers said U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) will decline in 2009 and that the outlook will remain weak for the medium term. The report also showed that Fed policymakers believe unemployment will rise significantly into 2010. In economic news, the number of pending U.S. homes sales fell 4 percent in November to the lowest level since an industry trade group began tracking such information in 2001. The government's November factory orders report showed activity declined by 4.6 percent after falling 6 percent the previous month. However, the U.S. service sector showed some improvement in December, though activity remained weak. Light sweet crude oil for February delivery fell 23 cents to $48.58 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The U.S. dollar gained versus the euro and the yen. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 62.21, or 0.7 percent, to 9,015.10. Technology companies IBM, Intel, and Hewlett-Packard as well as financial companies Citigroup and Bank of America gained. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 7.25, or 0.8 percent, to 934.70. The Nasdaq composite index rose 24.35, or 1.5 percent, to 1,652.38, led by Cisco Systems. The New York Stock Exchange composite index rose 60.41 to 5,968.84. The American Stock Exchange composite index rose 12.67 to 1,473.89. And the Russell 2000 index rose 9.68 to 514.71.
