AlQa'dah 12, 1434, Sep 18, 2013, SPA -- Stocks jumped Wednesday, with the Dow industrials and broader Standard & Poor's 500 hitting new record highs, after the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) surprised markets by announcing that it would not yet start to reduce its massive stimulus program. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke added fuel to the stock rally during his news conference after the central bank's announcement. He laid out plans to maintain the central bank's "highly accommodative monetary policy" for the foreseeable future, even if the Fed eventually chooses to begin cutting its $85 billion in monthly bond purchases. The central bank's decision pushed down the U.S. dollar versus the euro and the yen and drove up commodities. Light sweet crude futures rose 2.5 percent to above $108 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures spiked more than 4 percent to above $1,365 an ounce. Shares of FedEx jumped more than 5 percent after the parcel delivery firm reported positive quarterly results. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 147.21, or 0.95 percent, to 15,676.94. The S&P 500 rose 20.76, or 1.2 percent, to 1,725.52. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 37.94, or 1 percent, to 3,783.64.
