Stocks Ended Higher ahead of Fed Decision

Stocks closed sharply higher on Tuesday as traders turned their focus back to corporate news from the U.S. and hopes that the Federal Reserve would come up with a plan to jump start the economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 95.51 points, or 0.75%, to 12,837.33. The S&P 500 Index climbed 13.20 points, or 0.98%, to 1,357.98. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 34.43 points, or 1.19%, to 2,929.76.

The Federal Open Market Committee began a two-day session Tuesday, with McCain echoing a view held by many that the most to be expected would be an extension of the Fed’s “Operation Twist” program, of selling short-term securities while buying longer- term ones, to keep a lid on long-term interest rates.

A coalition government could be formed by mid-Wednesday in Greece, the head of the country’s socialist party said Tuesday, easing the nation from political limbo as it struggles to deal with a financial crisis that has affected Europe’s economy and markets around the world.

Photography pioneer Eastman Kodak Co sued Apple Inc to stop it from interfering with plans to sell a large patent portfolio, a significant part of its bankruptcy restructuring. In a lawsuit filed on Monday in U.S. bankruptcy court in Manhattan, Kodak said Apple, the largest U.S. company by market value, wrongly claims to own 10 patents arising from work that the companies did together in the early 1990s.

Crude-oil inventories declined 550,000 barrels in the week ended June 15, the American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday. The trade group also reported gasoline stockpiles up 1.1 million, and supplies of distillates down 269,000 barrels. Oil for July delivery on Tuesday advanced 76 cents to settle at $84.03 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.