S&P 500 Index Rises Toward 5th Quarterly Gain Before Yellen Talk

---

U.S. stocks climbed, with the Standard & Poor™s 500 Index poised for a fifth straight quarterly gain, amid signs of tension easing in Ukraine and before a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.

The S&P 500 gained 0.3 percent to 1,863.25 at 9:30 a.m. in New York. A quarterly advance would give the gauge its longest streak since 2007. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 32.17 points, or 0.2 percent, to 16,355.23.

The S&P 500 fell 0.5 percent last week, trimming its gain in 2014 to 0.5 percent, as investors sold the bull market™s biggest winners to lock in gains as they assess how much of the recent economic weakness is weather-related and if the situation in Ukraine will worsen.

Copy Source : Bloomberg