Stocks End Up on Fed Talks

U.S. stocks advanced on Tuesday on expectations the Federal Reserve will make only moderate changes to stimulus measures. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 34.95 points, or 0.23 percent, at 15,529.73. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up 7.16 points, or 0.42 percent, at 1,704.76. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 27.85 points, or 0.75 percent, at 3,745.70.

The nation’s poverty rate remained stuck at 15 percent last year despite America’s slowly reviving economy, a discouraging lack of improvement for the record 46.5 million poor and an unwelcome benchmark for President Barack Obama’s recovery plans. More than 1 in 7 Americans were living in poverty, not statistically different from the 46.2 million of 2011 and the sixth straight year the rate had failed to improve, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday.

Twenty-two investment firms will collectively pay more than $14.4 million in sanctions to settle civil charges in connection with a broad crackdown by federal regulators into illegal short-selling practices, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Tuesday.