Traders Mark Muller, John Santiago and Gregory Rowe, left to right, work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. Stocks were little changed in early trading Wednesday as investors wait to hear from the Federal Reserve on the fate of the central bank’s bond-buying program.By KEN SWEET
AP Markets Writer
NEW YORK – Investors plowed money into stocks and bonds today after the Federal Reserve’s surprise decision to keep its economic stimulus in place.
The news sent the Standard & Poor’s 500 index and Dow Jones industrial average to a record highs. Bond yields fell sharply, and gold jumped as traders anticipated that the Fed’s decision could cause inflation.
In a statement, Fed policymakers voted to maintain the central bank’s $85 billion-a-month bond-buying program, which has been in place in one form or another since late 2008. The bank said, in a statement, that while the U.S. economy was improving, policymakers “decided to await more evidence that progress will be sustained” before deciding to cut back.