U.S. stocks extended gains Wednesday despite lingering worries of an imminent U.S.-led military strike on Syria, as the upbeat Beige Book report from the Federal Reserve underpinned the market.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 96.91 points, or 0.65 percent, to 14,930.87 points. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock Index was up 13.31 points, or 0.81 percent, to 1,653.08 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index surged 36.43 points, or 1.01 percent, to 3,649.04 points.
U.S. President Barack Obama said in Stockholm, Sweden, that the "international community's credibility is on the line," one day after he garnered more support Tuesday from Congressional leaders at home for launching a military strike against Syria.
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee reached an agreement late Tuesday on a revised resolution to authorize President Obama's proposed military action in Syria and it passed the resolution Wednesday.
Despite ongoing concerns about Syria, the market regained momentum after a pullback in recent weeks, due to headwinds including the U.S. Federal Reserve's possible tapering of its stimulus measures later this year as well as political turmoil in Egypt.
Reports from the 12 Fed Districts suggested that U.S. economic activity continued to expand at a modest to moderate pace between early July and late August, according the Beige Book released by the Fed Wednesday.
The report was published ahead of each policy meeting of the U. S. central bank. Most economists believe the central bank will moderate the pace of its monthly asset purchases in September.
San Francisco Fed President John Williams said Wednesday the Fed should begin dialing back its bond purchases programs later this year if the labor market continues to strengthen.
On the economic front, the U.S. trade deficit in goods and services widened to 39.1 billion dollars in July from 34.5 billion dollars in June, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.
"The reversal in July was only partial... As a result, the data suggest the improving trend in U.S. trade remains intact despite this setback. Still, the rate of improvement is very slow," FTN Financial said in note Wednesday.
Meanwhile, U.S. mortgage applications rose 1.3 percent from the week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending Aug. 30.
The Nasdaq exchange suffered a six-minute outage for a small number of stock symbols Wednesday, just about two weeks after a trading glitch halted trading of all stocks on the stock exchange for more than three hours.
On other markets, the U.S. dollar weakened against most major currencies Wednesday, but its losses were limited by continuous fears over Syria.
In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.3207 dollars from 1.3169 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound increased to 1.5623 dollars from 1.5563 dollars. The dollar bought 99.74 Japanese yen, higher than 99.47 yen of the previous session.
Oil prices dropped on profit-taking after gains in recent weeks, as the United States debated a military strike on Syria.
Light, sweet crude for October delivery moved down 1.31 dollars to settle at 107.23 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for October delivery lost 0.77 dollars to close at 114.91 dollars a barrel.
Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell below 1,400 dollars per ounce to settle at 1,390 dollars per ounce, their lowest in nearly two weeks.
