Reassurances by new Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen that current monetary policies would continue boosted the markets to a sharply higher close with the Dow jumping 192 points to 15,994. Nasdaq surged 42 points to 4191.
On the upside
Rising gold prices lifted shares of Harmony Gold (NYSE: HMY) and Gold Fields (NYSE: GFI).
The Patent Board ranked iRobot (Nasdaq: IRBT) #5 on its list of top patent portfolios in the electronics and instruments industry and #2 in the science strength category.
Ligand Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: LGND) reported sharply higher fourth quarter earnings that surpassed analyst expectations as revenue rose.
On the downside
Profit taking weighed down shares of YOU On Demand (Nasdaq: YOD).
Zacks Equity Research wrote that GT Advanced Technologies (Nasdaq: GTAT) was overbought and the stock price would soon drop.
Several Ocwen Financial (NYSE: OCN) investors including BlackRock may file suit against the company for its mortgage servicing practices.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of 7 to 2 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 soared 19 points to 1819. Bitcoin slipped $12.54 or 2.16% to $579.79.
