Stock gains hold on Fed news

Early stock gains held Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve tweaked a closely watched monetary policy announcement. The Fed specified 6.5 percent unemployment as the point at which it would consider changing its overnight bank-to-bank lending rate, which has been at zero to 0.25 percent since the recession. Unemployment is currently at 7.7 percent. The Fed kept its policy targets intact, holding to its historically low lending rate and announcing it would continue with its asset purchasing programs. The Fed did not announce additional stimulus measures at this time, which some had expected. In early afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average added 37.05 points or 0.28 percent to 13,285.49. The tech-heavy Nasdaq index gained 3.15 points or 0.1 percent to 3,025.45. The Standard and Poor's 500 added 5.86 points or 0.41 percent to 1,433.70. The 10-year treasury note fell 11/32 to yield 1.695 percent. The euro rose to $1.308 from Tuesday's $1.3006. The dollar rose to 83.18 yen from 82.51 yen. Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 0.59 percent, 56.14 points, to 9,581.46. Britain's FTSE 100 index added 0.35 percent, 20.88 points, to 5,945.85.