TORONTO _ The Toronto Stock Exchange was solidly higher while indexes in New York soared as buyers there returned to end a six-day slide, the longest on Wall Street in more than three years.
At the close, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 619.07 points or almost four per cent at 16,285.51.
That more than matched its worst one-day drop since the recent sell-off began _ 588.4 points on Monday _ but leaving the index still down more than 700 points over the period.
The S&P 500 rose 72.90 points to 1,940.51 and the Nasdaq jumped 191.05 points to 4,697.54 after also having suffered heavy losses prompted by concerns over the health of China's economy and a devaluation of its currency, the yuan.
In Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite also rose, shooting up 230.66 points, or 1.75 per cent, to 13,381.591 after seeing an earlier triple-digit advance evaporate into a slight loss before ramping up again in the late afternoon.
On commodity markets, benchmark October oil contract settled down 71 cents at US$38.60 a barrel, while October natural gas was unchanged at US$2.70 per thousand cubic feet.
September copper fell seven cents to US$2.25 a pound while December gold lost $13.70 to US$1,124.60 an ounce.
The Canadian dollar, which hit 11-year lows on Tuesday, was up 0.13 of a U.S. cent at 75.06 cents US.
For news about small stocks that made big moves in Wednesday’s trading, please read the Canadian Small and Micro-Cap Report.