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New York - US stocks bounced higher Wednesday after Portugal's successful bond auction allayed fears the eurozone country would need a bailout and Germany posted record economic growth.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 52.49 points (0.45%) to 11 724.37 in early trades.
The broad-market S&P 500 index advanced 5.82 points (0.46%) to 1 280.30 and the tech-rich Nasdaq added 6.31 points (0.23%) at 2 723.14.
Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com said that market optimism was supported by a number of European factors, including the successful bond sale in Portugal and Germany's annual gross domestic product growth of 3.6%, the strongest since reunification in 1990.
"European leaders are starting to sound like they are intent on acting in a cooperative and pre-emptive manner, versus a contentious and reactive manner, to deal with the EU's (European Union's) nagging fiscal problems," he added.
With Wednesday's main headlines lacking any negative slant, he said, "market participants are finding reason to keep riding the bullish trend that has the S&P 500 up 1.3% year-to-date and up 8.0% since the end of November."
Portugal passed a key credibility test in a bond auction Wednesday, raising 1.25bn euros ($1.6bn), attracting strong interest for its long-term debt at reduced rates.
On Tuesday, the Dow broke a three-day losing streak after Japan pledged to buy European debt to help finance a bailout for crisis-hit Ireland, easing concerns about debt-laden Portugal.
The blue-chip Dow climbed 0.30%, the S&P 500 index rose 0.37% and the Nasdaq rose 0.33%.
