U.S. stocks rose

U.S. stocks rose, erasing an earlier loss in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as the Federal Reserve said interest rates will remain low until late 2014 and Apple Inc. rallied after earnings more than doubled.

Federal Reserve officials said their benchmark interest rate will stay low until at least late 2014 and anticipate that unemployment will remain high and inflation “subdued.” The Fed extended its previous pledge to keep rates low at least until the middle of 2013 as inflation remains tame and more than two years of economic growth have failed to push unemployment below 8.5 percent.

Apple rallied 6 percent to $445.64. The gain gives Apple a market value of about $419 billion, higher than Exxon Mobil Corp.’s $414 billion. Quarterly profit more than doubled as surging demand for the iPhone and iPad cemented its role as the most valuable technology company and ramped up pressure on rivals Google Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.

Textron Inc. added 16 percent, the most in the S&P 500, to $24.97. Chief Executive Officer Scott Donnelly is working to leverage the company’s businesses with measures such as having Cessna and Bell share overseas service centers and sales forces. Textron is winding down its finance unit, which struggled during the recession.

Xerox lost 8.6 percent to $7.93. The provider of printers and business services gave earnings forecasts that trailed some analysts’ estimates as companies curb spending. Xerox is relying on demand for business services to boost sales as a slowing global economy weighs on information-technology spending.

Nvidia declined 1.7 percent to $14.68. The company followed other PC chipmakers in reporting lower-than-anticipated sales, hurt by last year’s flooding in Thailand. The disaster shut down production of disk drives, leading to a decline in computer shipments.