US stocks surge after Fed chief reassures

NEW YORK (AP) - Reassuring words from the new head of the Federal Reserve sent stocks soaring on Tuesday and gave the market its longest winning streak this year.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped nearly 200 points after Fed Chair Janet Yellen said she would continue the central bank's market-friendly, low-interest rate policies.

Investors also welcomed news that Congress appeared poised to raise the U.S. borrowing limit without the political drama that happened late last year. That would avert the threat of a disastrous default on the U.S. government's debt.

On Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 192.98 points, or 1.2 percent, to 15,994.77. It was the Dow's third triple-digit advance in four days.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 19.91 points, or 1.1 percent, to 1,819.75 and the Nasdaq composite rose 42.87 points, or 1 percent, to 4,191.04. The Nasdaq is now in positive territory for 2014, while the S&P 500 and Dow are down 1.5 percent and 3.5 percent the year, respectively.

The surge in the last four days has helped the market avoid its first "correction" since 2011. That's when an index falls 10 percent or more from a recent peak.

The S&P 500's recent decline brought the index down as much as 5.8 percent from its peak of 1,848 reached on Jan. 15.