The stock market continued its slow and steady advance of the past month after the Federal Reserve said it would keep interest rates low to revive the economy. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 50 points in afternoon trading for its seventh straight advance. The gain means the Dow has joined the Standard & Poor’s 500 index and Nasdaq composite index in reaching levels not seen since 2008. loadposition in-article The latest climb came from the Fed’s decision Tuesay to hold its key lending rate at a record low of essentially zero. A government report that prices at the wholesale level fell by the biggest amount in seven months added to confidence that inflation is contained. That would enable policymakers to keep rates low. The Labor Department’s Producer Price Index fell 0.6 percent in February, its steepest drop in seven months. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters forecast a drop of 0.2 percent. A drop …

A package of tax breaks and highway spending cleared Congress on Wednesday, the first of what Democrats hope will be several efforts to bring down the 9.7 percent unemployment rate. The Senate passed the $17.6 billion measure by a vote of 68 to 29 and sent it to President Barack Obama , who praised the bill and is expected to sign it into law. “It is the first of what I hope will be a series of job packages that will help to continue to put people back to work all across America,” Obama said. loadposition in-article With congressional elections looming in November, Democrats hope to show they are committed to reducing an unemployment rate that has remained stubbornly high even as the economy has begun to recover from the worst recession in decades. None of their efforts is likely to approach the scale of last year’s $863 billion stimulus package, which …

In a Hollywood-style heist, thieves cut a hole in the roof of a warehouse, rappelled inside and scored one of the biggest hauls of its kind—not diamonds, gold bullion or Old World art, but about $75 million in antidepressants and other prescription drugs. The pills—stolen from the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly LLY� 36.195� 0.015� (+0.04%) in quantities big enough to fill a tractor-trailer—are believed to be destined for the black market, perhaps overseas. loadposition in-article “This is like the Brink’s pill heist,” said Erik Gordon, a University of Michigan business professor who studies the health care industry. “This one will enter the folklore.” The thieves apparently scaled the brick exterior of the warehouse in an industrial park in Enfield, a town about midway between Hartford and Springfield, Mass., during a blustery rainstorm before daybreak Sunday. After lowering themselves to the floor, they disabled the…