New York, March 19 (BridgeNews) - U.S. stocks closed higher in choppy trading on bargain hunting and short covering ahead of Tuesday's meeting of the Federal Reserve to decide the future course of interest rates. The Dow Jones industrial average bounced back 135.70, or 1.38%, to 9959.11 and the Nasdaq composite rebounded 60.53, or 3.2%, to 1951.44. The S&P 500 rose 20.32, or 1.77%, to 1170.85.