Major Averages Close At Their Best Levels Of The Day

(RTTNews) - Following the sell-off seen in the previous session, stocks showed a strong move back to the upside during trading on Wednesday. The markets benefited from a positive reaction to the latest batch of economic news.

Airline stocks showed a substantial move to the upside over the course of the trading day, driving the NYSE Arca Airline Index up by 3.6 percent.

Hawaiian Airlines parent Hawaiian Holdings (HA) and JetBlue (JBLU) turned in two of the airline sector's best performances.

Significant strength was also visible among biotechnology stocks, as reflected by the 3.6 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index. Alkermes (ALKS), United Therapeutics (UTHR) and Incyte (INCY) posted standout gains.

Trucking, software, housing, and steel stocks also saw considerable strength on the day, moving higher along with most of the major sectors.

Meanwhile, gold stocks bucked the uptrend, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 1.3 percent. The weakness in the sector came as gold for December delivery slid $6.20 to $1,133.60 an ounce.

The major averages saw further upside going into the close, ending the session at their best levels of the day. The Dow jumped 293.03 points or 1.8 percent to 16,351.38, the Nasdaq soared 113.87 points or 2.5 percent to 4,749.98 and the S&P 500 surged up 35.01 points or 1.8 percent to 1,948.86.