Major Averages Close Near Their Best Levels Of The Day

(RTTNews) - After moving sharply lower over the course of the previous session, stocks showed a significant rebound during trading on Wednesday. The markets continued to perform well following the release of the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting.

The strength on Wall Street was partly due to bargain hunting following the pullback seen on Tuesday, with the Dow bouncing well off the nearly one-month closing low set in the previous session.

Tobacco stocks showed a substantial move to the upside late in the trading day, driving the NYSE Arca Tobacco Index up by 2.2 percent. Despite the gain, the index remained stuck in a recent trading range.

Lorillard (LO) helped lead the tobacco sector higher, surging up by 10.4 percent after a report from Reuters indicated that Reynolds American (RAI) is in advanced talks to acquire the cigarette maker.

Considerable strength was also visible among brokerage stocks, which rebounded after seeing significant weakness on Tuesday. Reflecting the strength in the sector, the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index climbed 1.3 percent.

Internet, railroad, and energy stocks also moved notably higher on the day, while most of the other major sectors showed more modest moves to the upside.

The major averages closed firmly in positive territory, near their best levels of the day. The Dow jumped 158.75 points or 1 percent to 16,533.06, the Nasdaq advanced 34.65 points or 0.9 percent to 4,131.54 and the S&P 500 climbed 15.20 points or 0.8 percent at 1,888.03.