– National

Stocks rose Wednesday after New York’s Federal Reserve president said in a speech that core inflation is “quite moderate.” All three major indexes reached multiyear highs for the second time this week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 31.86, or 0.3 percent, to 11,043.44. The S & P; 500 climbed 4.49, or 0.4 percent, to 1,294.18. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 11.04, or 0.5 percent, to 2,331.36.

*

Read the full Associated Press story

.

– Local


Local movers were led by FirstFed Financial Corp., which gained 3.7 percent to $58.40, and PeopleSupport Inc., which rose by 12.3 percent to $9.94. On the down side, Reinhold Industries Inc. slipped 9.1 percent to $11 and Ameron International Corp. fell 2.4 percent to $49.78.

Shares of Countrywide Financial Corp. jumped 4.3 percent to $37.04 after the company said that its mortgage volume rose 27 percent last month to $44 billion from a year earlier despite a feared downturn in the housing market. Average daily mortgage applications rose 24 percent to $2.5 billion.

PS Business Parks Inc. rose 2.8 percent to $52.38 after the Glendale-based real estate investment trust’s stock rating was raised to “overweight” from “neutral” by JPMorgan.

Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. soared 14.3 percent to $3.12 after the L.A.-based company said newsstand sales of the first 11 issues of its revamped TV Guide jumped 38 percent over the third-quarter’s average weekly newsstand sales. It also said sales have exceeded estimates given to advertisers by more than 50 percent during its first 11 weeks in circulation.

WPT Enterprises Inc. sank 8.6 percent to $6.14 after it warned that it expects a fourth-quarter loss of about $1.5 million to $2 million, due to higher marketing expenses related to its online business. A full-year loss of between $5 million and $5.5 million is also expected, which includes costs of approximately $3.6 million related to the premiere season of the L.A.-based company’s Professional Poker Tour.

Digital Insight Corp. fell 2.6 percent to $36.05 after the Calabasas-based online banking applications provider’s stock rating was downgraded to “market perform” from “outperform” by Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. The 12-month price target was set at $35 per share.