(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)US stocks jumped on Wednesday after technology stocks rallied on better than expected quarterly results of IBM. Stocks also rose on hopes that Obama’s ‘comprehensive plan’ would stabilize the US banking sector.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 279.01 points or 3.51% to finish at 8,228.10. The S&P 500 jumped 35.02 points or 4.35% to 840.24. The Nasdaq Composite rose 66.21 points or 4.60% to 1,507.07.

Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner testified before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday. Financial stocks surged after Geithner confirmed that President Barack Obama would propose a comprehensive plan in coming weeks to restore investor confidence in the financial system. "He's going to lay out a comprehensive plan for addressing the housing crisis in this country which has been so central to the recession and its basic causes," Geithner told the Senate Finance Committee.

Shares of Citigroup (NYSE: C) skyrocketed 87 cents or 31.07% to $3.67. Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) soared $1.58 or 30.98% to $6.68.J.P Morgan rallied $4.54 or 25.10% to $22.63.Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) advanced $3.76 or 28.70% to $16.86. Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) jumped over 8% each.   

Northern Trust Corp. (NASDAQ: NTRS) rose $13.58 or 30.91% to $57.51 after it said that its fourth quarter profit more than doubled to $330.3 million, or $1.47 per share, up from $125 million, or 55 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 18% to $1.15 billion from $972.8 million.

Late on Tuesday, Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK) said its fourth quarter profit plunged 88% to $28 million, or 2 cents a share from $520 million, or 62 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding certain one-time charges and expenses, the bank earned $53 million, or 5 cents a share, down from $700 million, or 61 cents a share, in the same quarter a year ago. Shares of the company finished at $23, up $4.24 or 22.60% from previous closing.

Asset management company BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) reported that its fourth-quarter net income declined 84% to $53 million, or 40 cents a share from $322.4 million or $2.43 a share in the year ago quarter. Revenue dropped 26% to $1.06 billion from $1.4 million in the corresponding quarter a year ago. Shares of BlackRock added $5.06 or 4.89% to end at $108.50.

Technology stocks rallied. IBM Corp.(NYSE: IBM) surged $9.44 or 11.52% to $91.42. The technology giant surprised the Wall Street yesterday with its better than expected quarterly results and fiscal 2009 earnings guidance. IBM Corp. announced fourth-quarter net income of $4.4 billion, or $3.28 a share, up 12% from $4 billion, or $2.80 a share in fourth quarter of 2007.Revenue in the quarter totaled $27 billion, down 6% from $28.9 billion. Consensus estimates were for net income of $3.03 a share and $28.15 billion in revenue for the quarter.