S&P 500 tops 1400-point mark

The Standard & Poor's 500 cracked the 1,400-mark Tuesday as U.S. stock indexes maintained their climb for a third straight day. The Dow Jones industrial average tacked on 76.74 points, or 0.59 percent, to 13,194.25 in early trading. The Nasdaq composite advanced 22.58 points, or 0.77 percent, to 3,012.89. The Standard & Poor's 500 added 9.46 points, or 0.68 percent, to 1,403.84 to top the 1,400 barrier for the first time in three months. Eric Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said the Fed should launch an aggressive program to bolster the economy until unemployment begins falling again, as well as work to push the inflation rate from its current 1.8 percent to 2 percent, which the Fed considers a healthy level. The 10-year U.S. treasury note was yielding 1.628 percent in early trading. Against the euro, the dollar was trading at $1.2425 Tuesday, up from $1.2399 Monday. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar was trading at 78.60 yen, up from 78.24 yen the previous day. In Tokyo, the Nikkei closed up 77.22 points, or 0.88 percent, to 8,803.31.