NEW YORK — Investors sent stocks moderately higher yesterday after the market viewed a Federal Reserve report on the economy as a sign that the Fed's string of interest rate hikes might be near an end.

Wall Street was mired in a narrow trading range until midafternoon, when the Fed released its Beige Book, a survey of the business climate around the country. The central bank said the job market improved and that inflation, a concern for the Fed and the stock market, was fairly contained. Seven out of 12 districts reported their regional economies were growing or holding steady.

"It's a more benign take than previous Beige Books," said Robert Tipp, chief investment strategist for Prudential Investment Management fixed income. "It will presumably open their eyes (the Fed's) to the fact that the economy could be cooling ... and they won't have to continue raising rates more than another two or three moves."

The day's other economic data also were strong: New home sales set a record in June and factory orders for big-ticket manufactured products rose at a strong clip. Analysts said investors were hearing the good economic news that they've been hoping for.

"The economic slowdown that was supposed to be happening at this time of year isn't happening," said Jack Caffrey, equities strategist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank.

Meanwhile, corporate earnings remained upbeat.

Advancing issues led decliners 9 to 7 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume was 2.02 billion shares, up from 1.97 billion shares Tuesday.