NEW YORK, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Investors were bullish Tuesday, sending blue chip stocks higher in response to Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen's remarks in Washington.
Yellen told a congressional panel Tuesday that the Fed would stay the course with a strategy of pulling back on its third round of quantitative easing. The new head of the central bank expressed confidence in the economic recovery, saying it gained strength in the second half of 2013.
The Dow Jones industrial average added 192.98 points or 1.22 percent to 15,994.77, the index posting its fourth consecutive gain. The Standard & Poor's 500 added 19.91 points, 1.11 percent, to close at 1,819.7584. The Nasdaq composite index gained 42.87 points, 1.03 percent, to close at 4,191.04.
On the New York Stock Exchange, 2,433 stocks advanced and 695 declined on a volume of 3.6 billion shares traded.
London's FTSE 100 gained 81.11 points, 1.23 percent, to hit 6,627.66.
The 10-year U.S. treasury was yielding 2.724 percent, off 15/32.
The euro traded at $1.3638 against the dollar. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at 102.66 yen.
Gold gained $16.90 to reach $1,291.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Silver added 10.3 cents to hit $20.215 an ounce.
Crude oil added 26 cents to reach at $100.32 per barrel on the NYMEX.
On the Chicago Board of Trade, corn for March delivery shed 1.25 cents to $4.4175 per bushel. Soybeans added 10.75 cents to $13.3625. Wheat gained 4.25 cents to $5.89.
