(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)US stocks finished solidly higher on Wednesday as better-than-expected industrial output data buoyed economic optimism.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 108.30 points or 1.12% to finish at 9,791.71. The S&P 500 added 16.13 points or 1.53% to end at 1,068.76. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 30.51 points or 1.45% to 2,133.15.
According to Federal Reserve, US industrial production increased 0.8% in August after rising 1% in the previous month. Economists expected the industrial output to rise 0.6%. Capacity utilization rose to 69.6% from a revised 69% previously. Economists expected no change.
A release by Department of Labor, on Wednesday, showed consumer prices rose 0.4% in August. The core consumer price index, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.1% in the month. Economists had expected monthly consumer price index to rise 0.3% and core consumer price to increase 0.1% in August.
Shares of diversified US firm General Electric Co. (NYSE:
GE) soared $1 or 6.25% to $17.
Alcoa (NYSE:
AA), the largest US aluminum maker, jumped 48 cents or 3.43% to $14.47.
Shares of financials rallied. American Express (NYSE:
AXP) gained $1.19 or 3.43% to $35.84. Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:
BAC) rose 46 cents or 2.74% to $17.25.JP Morgan (NYSE:
JPM) surged $1.46 or 3.38% to $44.65.
DuPont Co. (NYSE:
DD) climbed 75 cents or 2.26% to $33.90.
Among energy stocks, both Exxon Mobil (NYSE:
XOM) and Chevron (NYSE:
CVX) gained over 1%.
Late on Tuesday, Adobe (NASDAQ:
ADBE) said that it was buying Web analytics firm Omniture (NASDAQ: OMTR) for about $1.8 billion.
