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In addition to buying bonds, the Fed has been keeping short-term interest rates near zero to encourage people and businesses to borrow and spend more. Aside from the Fed's stimulus, other factors have been pushing the stock market higher, including a rebounding housing market, a pickup in hiring and strong earnings at big U.S. companies. On Wednesday, S&P Capital IQ reported that earnings in S&P 500 companies had reached a quarterly record. Investors don't like when the Fed pulls back from stimulus policies and raises interest rates because it typically has slowed the economy, and even led to recessions. But JPMorgan's Kelly notes that when interest rates are very low, as they are now, history suggests interest rate hikes won't hurt the stock market that much because it means the economy is getting stronger. "I don't think that (higher) interest rates will prove bad for the stock market," he said. "But the stock market has been hypnotized into believing that the only thing keep it afloat is the Fed." Among stocks making big moves: Bristol-Myers Squibb jumped 5 percent, or $2.34, to $46.40 after a Citigroup analyst raised his rating on the drugmaker. The analyst said the company could be a big winner with a group of cancer treatments under development. Saks rose $1.83 to $15.50, or 13 percent, after The New York Post reported the luxury retailer had hired Goldman Sachs to explore options for the company, including a possible sale. A spokesman for Saks declined to comment. Target fell $2.86, or 4 percent, to $68.40 after announcing a 26 percent drop in first-quarter profits. The company also said full-year earnings may come in lower than previously expected. On Tuesday, stocks rose after James Bullard, president of the St. Louis branch of the Federal Reserve, told an audience in Germany that the central bank should continue buying bonds. The price of gold fell $10.20 to $1,367.40 an ounce, a drop of 0.7 percent. Crude oil fell $1.90 to $94.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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