Major Averages Close Firmly In Positive Territory

(RTTNews) - After ending the previous session modestly lower, stocks showed a significant move back to the upside during trading on Wednesday. The markets benefited from easing concerns about the outlook for monetary policy and the conflicts overseas.

Biotechnology stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the trading day, driving the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index up by 2.2 percent. With the gain, the index ended the session at a five-month closing high.

InterMune (ITMN) helped lead the biotech sector higher, surging up by 14.4 percent after Bloomberg reported that European drug giants Sanofi (SNY) and Roche are among the bidders for the company.

Significant strength also emerged among defense stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent gain posted by the Philadelphia Defense Sector Index. Raytheon (RTN) and Lockheed Martin (LMT) posted standout gains on the day.

Commercial real estate stocks also turned in a strong performance, resulting in a 1.4 percent gain by the Morgan Stanley REIT Index. The gain lifted the index further off the one-month closing low set last Thursday.

Healthcare, internet, and software stocks also saw considerable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

The major averages moved roughly sideways in afternoon trading, hovering firmly in positive territory. The Dow climbed 91.26 points or 0.6 percent to 16,651.80, the Nasdaq jumped 44.87 points or 1 percent to 4,434.13 and the S&P 500 advanced 12.97 points or 0.7 percent to 1,946.72.