Stocks soared on Thursday, sending the technology-packed Nasdaq on its biggest one-day climb in nine months, as bargain-hunting investors scooped up shares that were beaten down to year-lows.
The blue chip Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index registered their biggest daily percentage gains since the beginning of October.
The Nasdaq rose more than 3 percent, scoring its biggest daily percentage gain since July 2003. Technology bellwethers Intel Corp and Microsoft Corp led the rise.
The rally snapped a 5-day losing streak for blue chip stocks, which fell to lows for the year on Wednesday. The Nasdaq had its second session of gains after closing at a 2004 low on Tuesday.
He said the Nasdaq small-cap and mid-cap stocks bore the brunt of the market's decline and so now their shares are rebounding more sharply than the blue chip Dow average.
The Nasdaq jumped 57.69 points, or 3.02 percent, to 1,967.17. The Dow Jones average shot up 170.59 points, or 1.70 percent, to 10,218.82. The S&P 500 rose 17.95 points, or 1.64 percent, to 1,109.28.
Volume was active with 1.48 billion shares changing hands on the New York Stock Exchange and 1.92 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers outnumbered decliners on both by more than 2 to 1.
Video game publisher Activision Inc and cosmetics company Avon Products Inc were bright spots after they both raised their profit forecasts.
In economic news, the government's final reading of fourth-quarter gross domestic product stayed the same as its previous report. It said GDP rose 4.1 percent, down from a gain of 8.2 percent in the third quarter.
Existing home sales rose 2 percent in February, according to the National Association of Realtors, while the US help wanted ads index in February rose slightly, suggesting a slow but steady improvement in the job market.
Stocks also got a boost from a drop in oil prices. Crude oil futures fell $1.50 to $35.51 a barrel in New York amid doubts Opec would cut output as it had vowed. High oil prices are considered bad for stocks as rising energy costs cut into corporate profits.
Intel and Microsoft also helped to drive the Dow higher. Intel gained $1.26, or 4.8 percent, to $27.79, while Microsoft advanced 78 cents, or 3.2 percent, to $25.19. They topped the Nasdaq's list of most active shares.
Activision's stock leaped after the company boosted its fourth-quarter financial outlook to a profit from a loss due to better-than-expected performance in its publishing and distribution divisions.
Its shares rose $1.52, or 11 percent, to $15.14. Avon rose sharply after the world's largest direct cosmetics seller raised its forecast for first-quarter and full-year earnings on strength in Europe and Latin America. Its shares jumped $4.78, or 6.8 percent, to $75.35.
Interstate Bakeries Corp was a drag on the market after it forecast a quarterly loss.
The maker of Wonder Bread and Twinkies - carbohydrate-heavy foods that followers of the popular Atkins diet avoid - said quarterly sales were likely to be down 2.5 percent from a year earlier.