Tuesday

Stocks closed higher today as the Federal Reserve stuck to its easy-money policy and economic data showed improvement. Shortly after the Fed's statement was released, the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 11514.08, its highest intraday level since September 2008. But the Dow along with other market measures pared its gains later in the session as investors worried that the combination of the Federal Reserve's continued easy-money policy and improving economic data could spur inflation. DJIA +47.98 Nasdaq +2.81 S&P 500 +1.13.