Stocks Gain for Third Day on Late Surge

With a late-day surge, all of the sectors of the Standard Poor’s 500-stock index closed higher, led by a nearly 3 percent rise in financial stocks, capping off a day that wavered between modest gains and losses.

It was the third consecutive session that the major indexes had pushed ahead, partly as investors scooped up stocks that had become cheaper after recent sell-offs. Gold futures fell more than 5 percent, or more than about $100 an ounce, on the Comex in New York, and prices of the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond fell.

Some investors have been betting on the likelihood of more stimulus from the Federal Reserve, whose chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, will speak at the Fed’s symposium at Jackson Hole, Wyo., on Friday. Mr. Bernanke outlined stimulus options at the same meeting in 2010 in response to the economic slowdown.

At the close of trading, the S. P. was up 15.25 points, or 1.3 percent, at 1,177.60. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 143.95 points, about 1.3 percent, at 11,320.71. The Nasdaq composite index was up 21.63 points, or 0.88 percent, at 2,467.69.

The rally in stocks eased demand for bonds. The Treasury’s 10-year note fell 1 7/32, to 98 16/32. The yield rose to 2.29 percent, from 2.16 percent late Tuesday.

“You are seeing a lot of people, rightly or wrongly, sitting on the sidelines until they see what Bernanke says in Jackson Hole,” said Brian Lazorishak, portfolio manager at Chase Investment Counsel, before the day’s final kick.

“People are adopting a wait-and-see attitude,” he added.

The financial sector was led by Bank of America, up about 11 percent at $6.99.

Bloomberg News reported that the bank had sent a memo to employees dismissing speculation that it was considering a merger with JPMorgan Chase, and described as “just wrong” a report that it needed to raise as much as $200 billion.

Gold, which sagged sharply on Tuesday only to rise in Asian trading, fell further on the Comex exchange. It was down $104.20 to $1,754.10 an ounce for the August contract. The metal had been used as a safe haven in recent market volatility and risen to record nominal highs, and some analysts saw Wednesday’s decline as a technical reversal.

Jeffrey Nichols, the managing director of the American Precious Metals Advisors, said that the recent run-up in gold had been “so large in magnitude and fast” that “to have a significant correction here really makes sense.”

“Some of the rally was a function of speculative demand by short-term-oriented institutional traders,” he said, adding that the consequence would be for them to sell, take profits and move on to other instruments. But he said that the long-term economic outlook was basically unchanged.

On Wednesday, the Commerce Department reported that overall orders for durable goods rose 4 percent last month, the biggest increase since March. But a category that tracks business investment plans fell 1.5 percent, the biggest drop in six months.

Analysts noted that, considering recent talk of another recession, it would take more than one economic data point to convince investors that the economy was on solid footing. But Abigail Huffman, director of research at Russell Investments, added that some of Wednesday’s early gains may have been a result of the durable goods numbers and the market’s momentum from the previous day.

Stocks in Europe rose as some investors bet that the Federal Reserve would act soon to strengthen the economy and that the sharp stock market drops earlier this month were overdone.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index closed 1.8 percent higher in Europe, while Germany’s DAX index increased 2.7 percent and France’s CAC 40 index rose 1.8 percent.

Stock markets in Asia slipped as investors took in the downgrade by Moody’s Investors Service of its rating on Japanese government debt.

The Nikkei 225-stock index ended down 1.1 percent at 8,629.61 points. Similarly, the yen remained persistently strong in the international currency markets, hovering at about 76.60 yen per United States dollar.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was 1 percent lower by midafternoon, the Straits Times index in Singapore fell 0.4 percent, and in India, the Sensex was down 0.8 percent by the afternoon.

Julia Werdigier and Bettina Wassener contributed reporting.

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