NEW YORK — U.S. stocks rose across the board Wednesday after big gains in Asia and Europe, a buoyant end to the worst quarter for the market in four years.
From worries over a slowing Chinese economy, uncertainty over interest rates and a scary slide in commodity prices, stocks have been hit with one blow after another over the past three months.
But on Wednesday, investors were in the mood to buy, especially stocks that have been battered. Energy companies and raw material suppliers, the biggest losers in the quarter, rose more than 2 percent each.
The buying began at the opening of trading and swept across all 10 sectors of the Standard and Poor’s 500 index. Among the big gainers, fashion company Ralph Lauren jumped 14 percent after announcing a new CEO would take over from its namesake founder.
Tim Courtney, chief investment officer of Exencial Wealth Advisors, said it was only a matter of time before investors started buying, given the recent drops.
“I’ve been surprised we haven’t had rallies like the one we’re seeing now,” Courtney said. “(After) so many negative days, you’re going to get a bounceback.”
The S&P 500 jumped 35.94 points, or 1.9 percent, to 1,920.03. The index, which has fallen seven of the past 10 days, is off 6.9 percent in the July-September period, the worst quarterly performance since 2011.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 235.57 points, or 1.47 percent, to 16,284.70. It fell 7.6 percent in the quarter. The Nasdaq composite climbed 102.84 points, or 2.3 percent, to 4,620.16.
The rally in the U.S. followed even bigger gains overseas. Stocks indexes in France, Germany, Britain and Japan all climbed more than 2 percent.
On Wednesday, investors mustered enough courage to buy even biotechnology companies, breaking an eight-day streak of drops for the battered sector. The Nasdaq Biotechnology index, down 24 percent from a peak in July, rose 4.5 percent.
Among stocks making big moves Wednesday, Western Digital surged $10.57, or 15 percent, to $79.44 after the digital storage company agreed to a $3.8 billion investment from China’s Unisplendour Corp.
The price of oil fell slightly as total U.S. crude inventories rose. U.S. crude fell 14 cents to close at $45.09 a barrel in New York. Oil finished the volatile month down 8 percent. Brent Crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many U.S. refineries, rose 14 cents to close at $48.37 a barrel in London.
