US Stocks Rally, Breaking 4-Session Loss Streak

(MarketWatch) - US stocks snapped a four-day losing streak Wednesday, pushing higher on solid manufacturing reports around the globe.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 83.55 points, or 0.7 percent, to 12,716.46, one day after closing out a January that was its best opening month since 1997. Earlier in the session, the Dow surged 152 points, bringing it within 26 points of a multiyear high.

But those gains evaporated in late trading, extending the Dow's string of days without a triple-digit move in either direction. The blue-chip index hasn't seen such a move since Jan. 3.

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 11.68 points, or 0.9 percent, to 1,324.09, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 34.43 points, or 1.2 percent, to 2,848.27.

All 10 S&P 500 sectors traded in positive territory, with the gains led by financial and industrial stocks. Bank of America rose 3.2 percent to top the Dow components. United Technologies gained 2.4 percent and Caterpillar, which has seen its 22-percent surge this year account for one-third of the Dow's gains in 2012, added 1.3-percent. Technology stocks were also vibrant, as Hewlett-Packard rose 2.8 percent.

The gains were driven by signs that US employment gains and global manufacturing are sustaining their recent strength. The US added 170,000 new private-sector jobs in January, in line with economists' expectations, though the previous month's total was revised lower. The reading is seen as a preview to the government employment report due Friday.

Separately, a reading on US manufacturing came in at 54.1 for January, a touch below expectations but better than December's revised reading of 53.1. Construction spending, however, jumped 1.5 percent in December, better than expectations for a 0.5 percent rise.

In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 finished with a climb of two percent, and Germany's DAX index gained 2.4 percent after purchasing managers indexes rose in the eurozone, Germany and the UK Both of those stock indexes closed at their highest level since last August.

Read more: MarketWatch