AlQa'dah 12, 1434, Sep 18, 2013, SPA -- A September rally in U.S. stock markets continued Tuesday despite an expected decision Wednesday form the Federal Reserve (Fed) that it will begin to "taper" its extraordinary stimulus program. The Fed policy-setting committee started a two-day meeting Tuesday and could announce that it will slow the pace of its $85 billion in monthly purchases of bonds and mortgage-backed securities in an effort to keep long-term interest rates low. But investors seem to have moved past such worries, with the three major indexes ending the session with gains, and the Standard & Poor's 500 closing within five points of a record high. In U.S. economic news, consumer inflation rose only 0.1 percent in August, while an index of homebuilder sentiment was unchanged in September at a healthy level. The U.S. dollar fell versus the yen and rose versus the euro. Light sweet crude futures fell about 1 percent to below $105.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures fell to below $1,310 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 34.95, or 0.2 percent, to 15,529.73. Gainers were led by Alcoa, which rose 2 percent, and American Express and Intel, which each advanced more than 1.5 percent. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 7.16, or 0.4 percent, to 1,704.76. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 27.85, or 0.75 percent, to 3,745.70. Shares of Microsoft rose 0.4 percent after the software giant increased its dividend payment to shareholders by 22 percent and announced another $40 billion share-buyback program.
