US stocks finish higher on Alcoa earnings, Fed minutes

US stocks on Wednesday scored moderate gains following a solid kickoff to earnings season from Alcoa and Federal Reserve meeting minutes signaling an end to its bond-buying programme in October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 78.99 points (0.47 per cent) to 16,985.61 points. The broad-based S&P 500 rose 9.12 (0.46 per cent) to 1,972.83 points, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 27.57 (0.63 per cent) to 4,419.03. Wednesday’s gains snapped a two-day slide. Alcoa unofficially kicked off second-quarter earnings season after markets closed Tuesday with profits of $138 million, up from a loss of $119 million a year ago. The company benefited from lower costs and said aluminum demand was on track to increase seven percent in 2014. Alcoa shares shot up 5.7 percent to $15.69. The Fed minutes of the June meeting of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee showed the central bank plans to end its bond-buying stimulus programme in October. But the Fed also expects it would not begin raising its near-zero benchmark interest rate for ‘a considerable time’ after the asset-purchase programme ends, ‘especially if projected inflation continued to run below the Committee’s 2 per cent longer-run goal,’ the minutes said, according to AFP.