U.S. stocks gained, following a two- day drop in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as investors awaited a Federal Reserve policy statement and a report showed companies added more workers to payrolls than estimated.

Stocks rose today after a private report based on payrolls showed U.S. companies added workers in October. The 110,000 increase followed a revised 116,000 gain the prior month that was larger than previously estimated, ADP Employer Services said today. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a advance of 100,000.

Fed officials are probably engineering a third round of large-scale asset purchases, while they are unlikely to announce a decision today, according to economists in a Bloomberg News survey. The Federal Open Market Committee plans to release a policy statement at 12:30 p.m. in Washington. The FOMC will release economic forecasts at 2 p.m., and Bernanke is scheduled to hold a press conference beginning at 2:15 p.m.

Dow 11,844.37 +186.41 +1.60%, Nasdaq 2,636.40 +29.44 +1.13%, S&P 500 1,238.31 +20.03 +1.64%

Banks rallied after yesterday’s 4.7 percent drop in a gauge of financial companies in the S&P 500, the most among 10 industries. Bank of America added 3.9 percent to $6.65. Citigroup Inc. gained 3.5 percent to $30.20.

MasterCard rose 7.2 percent to $358.43. The world’s second- biggest payments network posted a third-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates as consumers increased spending with credit and debit cards.

Energy and raw material producers advanced as the S&P GSCI index of 24 commodities gained 1.8 percent. Alcoa Inc. jumped 3 percent to $10.68. Halliburton Co. climbed 2.7 percent to $36.20.