(New York, USA) - US stocks jumped more than 2.3 percent Wednesday after the European Central Bank said it would keep open its unlimited liquidity loans for eurozone banks at least through 2012.
The market also got support from a fresh Federal Reserve report that, while not showing much improvement in the US economy since April, clearly showed no new sign of faltering.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 286.84 points, or 2.37 percent, to 12,414.79.
The broad-based S&P 500 surged 29.63 (2.30 percent) to 1,315.13, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite gained 66.61 (2.40 percent) to 2,844.72.
Stocks were also helped by a Wall Street Journal report suggesting the Fed is considering "more action amid recovery doubts," said Briefing.com.
Financial and energy shares led the push higher, with Bank of America leaping 7.6 percent.
ExxonMobil gained 3.32 percent and Chevron 3.4 percent after oil prices rebounded after an extended fall over the past month.
Homebuilder Hovnanian Enterprises, whose stock collapsed in the US housing market meltdown, jumped 18.2 percent to $2.01 after posting its first quarterly profit in two years, citing higher sales.
Newspaper group Lee Enterprises surged 18.2 percent on news that Berkshire Hathaway, the investment group of mega-billionaire Warren Buffett, had taken a 3.2 percent stake in the company.
Nasdaq OMX rose 1.7 percent after saying it had formed a plan to pay out $40 million in cash and discounts to brokers claiming losses due to the Nasdaq exchange's technical glitches on the first day of Facebook's IPO on May 18.
The deal was immediately challenged by the rival New York Stock Exchange, which said the discounts were designed to steal business way from it.
Its parent company, NYSE Euronext, gained 3.0 percent.
Facebook itself turned higher after a nearly uninterrupted fall since its May 18 IPO, ending up 3.64 percent at $26.81. It was still nearly 30 percent below the IPO issue price of $38.
Bond prices fell sharply. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond rose to 1.65 percent from 1.56 percent Tuesday, while the 30-year climbed to 2.72 percent from 2.62 percent.
Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.
