Stocks rise on Fed news

WASHINGTON (AP) - After two days of worrying about Europe, the stock market got a boost from the Federal Reserve Wednesday.

The Dow Jones industrial average touched an all-time high after the Fed said it plans to continue buying bonds and keep interest rates low, at least until unemployment eases. The blue-chip index eased off its peak but still ended 55 points higher for the day.

The Dow was up 44 points shortly before the Fed announcement at 2 p.m. It rose as much as 91 points shortly after the Fed released its policy statement, touching an all-time high of 14,546 at 2:25 p.m.

The Dow closed up 55.91 points, or 0.4 percent, to 14,511.73. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 10.37 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,558.71. The Nasdaq composite index rose 25.09, or 0.8 percent, to 3,254.19.

The Dow is up 10.7 percent for the year. From March 1 through March 14, the index had a 10-day winning streak - its longest since 1996. The streak boosted the Dow by 484 points, to 14,539.