AlQa'dah 23, 1435, September 18, 2014, SPA -- U.S. stocks closed higher Wednesday, with the Dow ending at a record and the S&P 500 back above 2,000. In U.S. economic news, the Federal Reserve said in a statement after its two-day meeting that it would largely leave intact key provisions and cut its bond buying down to $15 billion a month, while indicating the asset purchases would end altogether in October. In a news conference, Fed Chair Janet Yellen reiterated that there continued to be "significant under-utilization" in the labor force, with inflation running below the Fed's objectives. Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index declined 0.2 percent last month, while prices excluding food and energy costs held unchanged. The dollar turned higher against the currencies of major U.S. trading partners. Light sweet crude oil for October delivery dropped 46 cents to $94.42 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures fell 80 cents to $1,235.90 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 24.88, or 0.2 percent, to 17,156.85. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 2.59, or 0.1 percent, to 2,001.57. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index climbed 9.43, or 0.2 percent, to 4,562.19.
