Stocks also got a lift from a bullish report on German business sentiment and from an earnings report from Dow member Hewlett Packard, which surged 12.3 percent higher.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 119.95 (0.9 percent) to 14,000.57.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 13.18 points (0.9 percent) to reach 1,515.60, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 30.33 points (1.0 percent) to 3,161.82.