Overnight: US stock rise and markets await FOMC Meeting

Overnight: US stock rise and markets await FOMC Meeting. US stocks rose, bringing the Standard & Poor's 500 Index within 1.5 percent of its last record, as investors dissected earnings and economic data before a Federal Reserve policy announcement tomorrow. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index climbed 1.2 percent to 1,984.86 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 188.42 points, or 1.1 percent, to 17,006.36. The Russell 2000 Index of small-cap stocks surged 2.9 percent, the most since 2012. Expectations are for the U.S. to be on a reasonably good growth path and right now the U.S. globally is the bright spot, Geoffrey Pazzanese, a New York-based fund manager at Federated Investors Inc. Employment is improving, jobs are improving in the private sector, and there's a Fed that, despite tapering, is still at very low rates. (VIEW LINK)