U.S. stocks extended rally to the fourth straight day on Wednesday,lifted by strong performances among commodities and upbeat corporate earnings.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 75.686, or 0.69 percent, to 11,096.08. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 8.33 points, or 0.71 percent, to 1,178.10 and the Nasdaq was up 23.31 points, or 0. 96 percent, to 2,441.23.
Stocks gained across the board, with all of the ten sectors in S&P 500 higher, as investors seemed to be convinced that the economy was turning around in face of robust earnings from bellwethers like JPMorgan Chase and Intel.
JPMorgan Chase said before the opening bell that its third- quarter profit jumped 23 percent to 4.42 billion dollars, or 1.01 dollars per share, which is well above analysts had expected.
Chipmaker Intel, a broadly-recognized forerunner in technology industry, also reported revenue and earnings topped estimates late Tuesday. However, its share dipped on Wednesday as its fourth- quarter forecast came basically in line with market expectation.
Apart from this, technology sector was still among the best performers in the market, led by gains from Apple Inc. and IBM Corp. as shares of the sector titans both reached all-time highs.
Apple broke above 300 U.S. dollars for the first time on Wednesday, ending the session with a gain of 1.60 dollar to 300.14 dollars per share. For the year, Apple's stock has been up more than 42 percent, as investors believed its success in launching iPad and the iPhone 4 handset would lead Apple to a more strong growth.
Also gaining ground was International Business Machines Corp., whose shares gained 52 cents to settle at 140.37 dollars per share, also a new record in history for the Big Blue.
Meanwhile, prices of commodities continued to surge on speculations that the Federal Reserve will announce another round of quantitative easing on its next meeting.
Gold touched another all-time peak, rising as high as 1,375.70 dollars an ounce before pulling back to settle at 1,370.50 dollars an ounce.
Benchmark crude for November delivery rose 1.34 dollars to close at 83.01 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 75.686, or 0.69 percent, to 11,096.08. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 8.33 points, or 0.71 percent, to 1,178.10 and the Nasdaq was up 23.31 points, or 0. 96 percent, to 2,441.23.
Stocks gained across the board, with all of the ten sectors in S&P 500 higher, as investors seemed to be convinced that the economy was turning around in face of robust earnings from bellwethers like JPMorgan Chase and Intel.
JPMorgan Chase said before the opening bell that its third- quarter profit jumped 23 percent to 4.42 billion dollars, or 1.01 dollars per share, which is well above analysts had expected.
Chipmaker Intel, a broadly-recognized forerunner in technology industry, also reported revenue and earnings topped estimates late Tuesday. However, its share dipped on Wednesday as its fourth- quarter forecast came basically in line with market expectation.
Apart from this, technology sector was still among the best performers in the market, led by gains from Apple Inc. and IBM Corp. as shares of the sector titans both reached all-time highs.
Apple broke above 300 U.S. dollars for the first time on Wednesday, ending the session with a gain of 1.60 dollar to 300.14 dollars per share. For the year, Apple's stock has been up more than 42 percent, as investors believed its success in launching iPad and the iPhone 4 handset would lead Apple to a more strong growth.
Also gaining ground was International Business Machines Corp., whose shares gained 52 cents to settle at 140.37 dollars per share, also a new record in history for the Big Blue.
Meanwhile, prices of commodities continued to surge on speculations that the Federal Reserve will announce another round of quantitative easing on its next meeting.
Gold touched another all-time peak, rising as high as 1,375.70 dollars an ounce before pulling back to settle at 1,370.50 dollars an ounce.
Benchmark crude for November delivery rose 1.34 dollars to close at 83.01 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
