U.S. stocks closed higher Tuesday after Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Ben Bernanke gave investors reason to believe that the central bank would continue to do its part to help the economy. In U.S. economic news, Bernanke said that the Fed will continue its bond buying program because "economic activity in the United States has continued to expand at a moderate, if somewhat uneven pace." The dollar fell versus the yen but rose against the euro and the pound. Light sweet crude oil for April delivery dropped 48 cents to $92.63 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures climbed $28.90 to $1,615.50. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 115.96, or 0.84 percent, to 13,900.13. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 9.09, or 0.61 percent, to 1,496.94. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index climbed 13.40, or 0.43 percent, to 3,129.65.
