Wall Street closing

Stocks rose Wednesday, with the three major indexes advancing more than 1 percent, as investors bet that a weak reading on U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) would prolong extraordinary stimulus efforts by the Federal Reserve (Fed). Markets have been volatile recently, driven largely by fears that the Fed could start to ease its stimulus measures by the end of the year. Such concerns were eclipsed Wednesday after the U.S. government’s worse-than-expected report on first-quarter GDP, which showed the economy grew only 1.8 percent during the January-March period, far less than the 2.4 percent annual gain previously estimated. The U.S. dollar fell versus the euro and rose versus the yen. Benchmark light sweet crude futures fell slightly to below $95.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures fell slightly to near $1,225 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 169.32, or 1.15 percent, to 14,929.63. Twenty-seven of the index’s 30 components gained, led by Boeing and Microsoft, which each rose more than 2 percent. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 17.62, or 1.1 percent, to 1,605.65. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 34.66, or 1 percent, to 3,382.55.