(CNBC) — U.S. stocks closed 1 percent higher or more Wednesday, helped by gains in financial stocks following JPMorgan's earnings beat and a rally overseas after encouraging China trade data.
"Earnings and China seem to be outweighing soft retail sales," said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. He said the near-term bias for stocks is to approach the upper end of a trading range, "while the expectations are low and companies appear to be beating expectations."
The Dow Jones industrial average closed about 187 points higher at its highest level since Nov. 6.