The Dow rose 408.44 points, or 0.86%, to 47,882.90, the S&P 500 gained 20.35 points, or 0.30%, to 6,849.72 and the Nasdaq gained 40.42 points, or 0.17%, to 23,454.09.
NEW YORK: US stocks advanced to close higher on Wednesday, as a flurry of economic data kept expectations elevated for an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week, while a fall in Microsoft's shares curbed the advance.
The record-long 43-day US government shutdown kept investors in the dark about official data and hampered the ability to gauge the Fed's likely path on interest rates. But the backlog is now being cleared along with data from non-governmental sources.
