Stocks begin higher; S&P 500 nears 1,500; Dow starts at 13,764
from MarketWatch.com - MarketPulse
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks began higher Wednesday as lawmakers prepared to vote on the nation's borrowing ceiling and as Wall Street monitored corporate earnings. "The market is in a remarkably resilient mood to go higher," said Randy Frederick, managing director of active trading and derivatives at the Schwab Center for Financial Research. The market's moves depend "on some of these big earnings reports, but honestly, with them making a little progress on the debt-ceiling issue, or at least kicking it out [until May], that removes one speed bump here," Frederick said. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 50 points, or 0.4%, to 13,763.7. The S&P 500 index climbed a fraction to 1,492.75. The Nasdaq Composite added 9.5 points, or 0.3%, to 3,152.67.