U.S. stocks eke out gains on Bernanke stimulus chatter

Investing.com - U.S. stocks rose modestly Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the pace of the central bank’s bond purchases are not a “preset course”

The S&P 500 closed higher by 0.28% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.12%. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.32% as investors appeared satisfied with Bernanke's congressional testimony and the results of the Beige Book survey.

In prepared remarks released before his testimony to Congress later in the day, Fed Chair Bernanke said the pace of the central bank’s bond purchases are not a “preset course”.

"I emphasize that, because our asset purchases depend on economic and financial developments, they are by no means on a preset course," Bernanke said.

Bernanke reiterated that the Fed will continue to maintain its accommodative monetary policy for the foreseeable future.

The Fed’s Beige Book business survey, which encompasses the central bank’s 12 regional banks, showed manufacturing expanded in most regions since the last report. The report showed modest growth across 11 districts with Dallas showing strong growth.

In other U.S. news out Wednesday, the Commerce Department said U.S. housing starts fell 9.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 836,000 unit in June, the lowest reading since August 2012. Analysts expected starts to rise to 959,000 units. Bad weather was cited as one of the reasons for the slack reading.

The Dow got a lift from Bank of America. The second-largest U.S. bank by assets said a second-quarter profit of $3.6 billion, or 32 cents a share, compared with year-earlier net income of USD2.1 billion. Analysts expected EPS of 25 cents. Revenue rose 3% to USD22.9 billion. Analysts expected USD22.8 billion.

Internet search firm Yahoo helped the Nasdaq higher after the company said Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group said its profit rose 24% while revenue climbed 71%. Yahoo owns part of Alibaba.

Shares of Dow component Caterpillar, the world’s largest maker of mining equipment, fell 1.7% after noted short seller Jim Chanos said he is not a fan of the stock.