S&P 500 Surges to Record as Treasuries Retreat After Fed

U.S. stocks surged, sending benchmark indexes to record highs, while Treasuries fell as the Federal Reserve expressed enough confidence in the labor market to taper asset purchases while still promising to hold interest rates close to zero. Commodities and the dollar advanced.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 1.7 percent to 1,810.65, its biggest gain in two months, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 292.71 points to 16,167.97 by 4:30 p.m. in New York. The benchmark gauge of U.S. equity volatility dropped the most since October. Ten-year Treasury yields added four basis points to 2.88 percent. The greenback jumped to a five-year high versus the yen and climbed versus most major peers. Gasoline and coffee drove gains in commodities.