Stocks climbed, as optimism among investors ahead of decisions by a German court and the Federal Reserve fueled a rise in the Dow industrials to their highest finish in nearly five years. Also, in a statement, Moody’s Investors Service said the United States stands to lose its top credit rating unless lawmakers reach an agreement to cut the amount of debt relative to gross domestic product in budget talks next year. Apple fell 0.3% a day before its expected new iPhone launch. Hewlett-Packard traded up 3% a day after announcing deeper job cuts. On the downside, Google surrendered 1.2%. After the closing bell Facebook climbed 3.4% as CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the TechCrunch conference in San Francisco for the first time since the social network went public, while Texas Instruments turned 0.5% lower after the co. narrowed quarterly view. Implied volatility inched higher on modest trading volumes.
