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US stocks posted modest gains Wednesday after a tame inflation report eased fears of interest rate hikes a day after the Federal Reserve issued a slightly better economic outlook.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 47.69 points (0.45 percent) to 10,733.67, marking a seven-session winning streak that took the blue-chip index to a more than 17-month high.
The Nasdaq composite rose 11.08 points (0.47 percent) to 2,389.07 while the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index added 6.75 points (0.58 percent) at 1,166.21.
The Nasdaq and the S&P have hit a series of year-highs in recent days, respectively returning them to levels last seen in August and September 2008.
"The luck o' the Irish was with the bulls today, as the blue chips extended their longest winning streak since August 2009," said Andrea Kramer at Schaeffer's Investment Research amid celebrations of St. Patrick's Day.
"The Federal Reserve's decision to maintain rock-bottom interest rates continued to stoke buyers," she added, noting a tame inflation report had added "fuel to the fire."
US producer prices fell unexpectedly sharply in February, snapping a four-month increase, with the decline led by falling prices of energy-linked goods, the Labor Department said.
The Fed on Tuesday once again pledged to keep interest rates near zero "for an extended period" in light of tame inflation and high unemployment amid a fragile recovery from severe recession that began in December 2007.
Among stocks in focus, aluminum giant Alcoa soared 4.78 percent to 14.46 dollars, ExxonMobil was up 1.19 percent at 67.36 dollars and Chevron added 0.93 percent at 74.67 dollars.
Financials also found favor, pushing JPMorgan Chase ahead 1.27 percent to 43.79 dollars and Bank of America up 1.41 percent to 17.27 dollars.
Boeing climbed 0.96 percent to 69.38 dollars after an upgrade from Wedbush Securities.
Private-equity firm BlackRock leapt 4.92 percent to 222.80 dollars on the back of an upgrade from Credit Suisse.
MGM Mirage fell 0.33 percent to 12.26 dollars. The Las Vegas casino giant said that New Jersey gaming authorities approved its plan to sell its 50 percent stake in the Borgata hotel-casino in Atlantic City, after the state accused the company of mob ties in its Macau business.
Blockbuster plunged 29.18 percent to 28.4 cents. The ailing movie-rental firm warned the Securities and Exchange Commission it may have to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Soft-drinks giant Pepsico rose 0.76 percent to 66.57 dollars despite a downgrade from Standard & Poor's, while Ford Motor powered 4.52 percent higher to 14.10 dollars after a Moody's upgrade.
In the tech space, LSI vaulted 8.93 percent to 6.34 dollars after raising earnings guidance, citing "greater-than-anticipated strength in the recovery of enterprise IT spending during the first quarter."
The bond market gained. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond fell to 3.642 percent from 3.653 percent on Tuesday and that on the 30-year bond dropped to 4.572 percent from 4.593 percent. Bond prices and yields move in
opposite directions.
