New York: Wall Street stocks rose Wednesday following a wave of mostly solid US data and a fresh confirmation of ultra-easy money policies by the European Central Bank.
At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 18,078.84, up 66.90 points (0.37 percent).
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 4.66 (0.22 percent) to 2,114.26, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 22.71 (0.45 percent) to 5,099.23.
Economic reports showed a big drop in the US trade deficit in April, slower growth in the US services sector in May and a solid 201,000 new private-sector jobs in May.
The Federal Reserve`s Beige Book reported that the US economy returned to modest-to-moderate growth during April and May after stalling in the first quarter of the year.
ECB President Mario Draghi praised the bank`s stimulus policies and said there were no plans to end them more quickly than planned.
"As long as you have a central bank providing monetary support that`s going to be a positive sign for investment in equity markets, be it European or US," said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities.
