American stocks rebounded for a fourth day on speculation the Federal Reserve will manage to defuse the crisis in credit markets, reviving a record pace of takeovers.

Countrywide Financial Corp., the largest American mortgage company, led the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index higher after the Wall Street Journal said some of its units may be acquisition targets for Warren Buffett. Apple Inc. rose the most in four weeks on prospects sales of the iPhone will top its forecast.

The S&P 500 increased 1.57, or 0.1%, to 1,447.12. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 30.49, or 0.2%, to 13,090.86. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 12.71, or 0.5%, to 2,521.3. About six stocks rose for every five that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Ben Bernanke agreed to use “all of the tools at his disposal” to restore stability to markets roiled by mortgage defaults this month, the Senate Banking Committee chairman, Senator Dodd, said today after meeting with the Fed chairman.

“That will help to bolster confidence in a market that’s fighting fear itself more than anything else,” an overseer of more than $173 billion as chief market strategist at LPL Financial Services in Boston, Jeffrey Kleintop, said. A cut in the Fed’s benchmark rate is the “next logical step,” he said.