U.S. Stocks Extend Records on Apple Deal, IMF Economic Outlook

Bloomberg (24/12) -- U.S. stocks rose, with benchmark indexes extending all-time highs, as Apple Inc. rallied and the International Monetary Fund indicated it would raise its outlook for the economy.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.5 percent to 1,828.09 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 74.69 points, or 0.5 percent, to 16,295.83. The Dow jumped 3 percent last week and the S&P 500 climbed 2.4 percent as the Federal Reserve said it will reduce the pace of bond buying amid faster-than-estimated economic growth. The S&P 500 has advanced 28 percent in 2013, putting it on course for its biggest annual rally since 1997. Three rounds of monetary stimulus have sent the equities benchmark up more than 168 percent from a 12-year low in 2009. The IMF is raising its outlook for the U.S. economy, as a budget deal in Washington and the Fed’s plan to taper its bond buying ease doubts about the future, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said yesterday in an interview broadcast today on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” The IMF predicted in October that the world’s largest economy would expand 2.6 percent next year. Lagarde didn’t set out any new projections.