Provided by Edward Jones, a member of the New York Stock Exchange

Dec. 16, 2008, U.S. stocks and bond prices rose significantly after the Federal Reserve stated it will employ all available tools to promote the resumption of sustainable economic growth and to preserve price stability. This announcement came along with the decision to target a Federal Funds rate range between 0 and 25 percent to keep the rates low for an extended period of time and to buy large quantities of debt and mortgage-backed securities.

The Dow Jones Industrial average was up 359.61 at 8924.14.

The Standard and Poor's 500 index was up 44.61 at 913.18.

The Nasdaq composite Index was up 81.55 at 1589.89.

The Dow Jones Transportation average was up 174.59 at 3380.70.

The Down Jones Utilities average was up 12.52 at 372.35.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange was moderate, with 1.5 billion shares traded.

The five most active issues on the New York Stock Exchange for Dec. 16, 2008:

Bank of America Corp. was UP $0.99 to $15.10.

General Electric Co. was UP $0.97 to $17.92.

CitiGroup was UP $0.83 to $8.23.

Pfizer Inc was UP $0.73 to $17.36.

JP Morgan Chase & Co. was UP $3.72 to $32.35.

At the closing, foreign markets were higher today.