U.S. Stocks Extend Records on Apple Deal

U.S. Stocks Extend Records on Apple Deal (Bloomberg)

U.S. stocks rose, with benchmark indexes extending all-time highs, as Apple Inc. (AAPL) rallied and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) indicated it would raise its outlook for the U.S. economy. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.5 percent to 1,828.09 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 74.69 points, or 0.5 percent, to 16,295.83. The Dow rose 3 percent last week and the S&P 500 climbed 2.4 percent as the Federal Reserve announced it will cut the pace of bond buying amid faster-than-estimated economic growth. The S&P 500 has advanced 28 percent in 2013, putting it on course for its biggest annual rally since 1997. Three rounds of monetary stimulus have sent the equities benchmark up more than 168 percent from a 12-year low in 2009. In addition, a report last week indicated the U.S. economy expanded at a 4.1 percent annualized rate in the third quarter, as consumers boosted spending on services and companies invested more in software. The reading was the strongest since the final three months of 2011 and up from a previous estimate of 3.6 percent, according to the report.