Fed policy makers met amid renewed concern over Europe's fiscal crisis. The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index of European countries hit a three-month low on April 23 and has since rallied as companies, including Electrolux AB, posted earnings that beat estimates.

In the U.S., consumer spending is starting to power growth as business investment cools. A report today showed orders for durable goods fell in March by the most in three years, indicating manufacturing will contribute less to growth this year.

Retail sales rose more than forecast in March as Americans snapped up everything from cars and furniture to clothes and electronics. The 0.8 percent gain was almost three times as large as projected and followed a 1 percent advance in February, Commerce Department figures showed April 16.

An April 27 government report may show that gross domestic product rose at a 2.5 percent annual rate, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of economists, driven by the biggest increase in household demand in a year.

Consumer confidence has been lifted by an improving labor market and gains in stocks, along with signs that the housing market may be stabilizing. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index last week matched the highest level in four years.

Company Earnings

Corporate earnings and an improving economic outlook are powering stock-market gains. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 9.1 percent this year as of yesterday.

"Despite its struggle with the sustained period of relative high unemployment, we're pleased to see some early signs of a slowly improving macroeconomic environment" in the U.S., Muhtar Kent, president and chief executive of Coca-Cola Co., the world's largest soft-drink maker, said in an April 17 earnings call.

More than 82 percent of companies in the S&P 500 that reported quarterly results since April 10 topped the average analyst earnings estimate, according to data compiled by Bloomberg as of yesterday. Companies from AT&T Inc. to 3M Co. beat analysts' earnings projections. International Business Machines Corp. boosted a stock buyback by $7 billion and increased its dividend yesterday.

Kimberly-Clark Corp., maker of Kleenex tissue and Huggies diapers, views the global economy as "similar to or perhaps slightly better than" January, Chief Executive Officer Thomas Falk said in an April 20 conference call. "In the U.S., the economic environment seems to be improving rather modestly," he said.