The U.S. stock market rebounded Thursday from a two-day slump, notching its biggest gain in more than two weeks and pushing the Dow Jones industrial average up more than 300 points.
The gains brought the Standard & Poor’s 500 index nearly back to break-even for the year following steep declines in August and September. Industrial stocks were among the index’s biggest gainers. The rally followed a batch of encouraging earnings from McDonald’s, eBay and others.
News that the European Central Bank could consider expanding its stimulus program in December also helped rally the market. Such a move could help stimulate spending in the region, a plus for U.S. companies struggling with declining overseas revenue, said Bob Doll, chief equity strategist at Nuveen Asset Management.
“We’ve had some pretty good earnings in a season that so far has been mixed,” Doll said. “Then you layer some chatter out from the ECB, and all the uncertainty and skepticism and negativism, and the mass amount of cash on the sidelines, and it doesn’t take much to get a rally going.”
The Dow climbed 320.55 points, or 1.87 percent, to 17,489.16. The S&P 500 index rose 33.57 points, or 1.7 percent, to 2,052.51. The last time the Dow and S&P 500 delivered bigger single-day gains was Oct. 5. The Nasdaq added 79.93 points, or 1.7 percent, to 4,920.05.
Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank, signaled that the bank could boost monetary stimulus at its meeting in December. That raised expectations that the ECB might extend its $1.2 trillion bond purchase program. Draghi also said the ECB is considering other measures, such as further cutting one of its key interest rates.
“The market was in a tight trading range leading up to today’s move to the upside, waiting for a catalyst in essence to push the market in one direction or the other,” said Quincy Krosby, a market strategist at Prudential Financial. “And you can see clearly that the Draghi comments were very positively received by the market.”
Benchmark U.S. crude rose 18 cents to $45.38 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
