US stocks rallied across the board Wednesday, in sharp contrast to the steep decline in the previous session, boosted by strong gains in technology and energy shares as well as particularly light trading volume. The Dow Jones industrials gained almost 250 points.

Many investors believe the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its next meeting on Sept. 18 or even sooner and were preparing for Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to hint at such a move on Friday at a speech in Jackson Hole, Wyo. The possibility of a rate cut has given Wall Street some hope that the stock market will recover from its summer volatility, and that right now, it's a good strategy to buy while the buying is cheap.

News that Bernanke said in a letter to Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., that Fed policymakers are "prepared to act as needed" if the market's turbulence hurts the economy helped pad the market's gain.

Boosted by a rally in crude-oil prices, energy stocks also posted strong gains, with Dow component Exxon Mobil Corp. surging 2.7%. More than 1.3 billion shares exchanged hands on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, with gainers outpacing decliners 7 to 1. On the Nasdaq, more than 1.6 billion shares were traded, with gainers outpacing decliners 22 to 6.

A jump in oil prices fed a rally in energy company stocks, and positive news from technology companies including Seagate Technology gave that sector a boost. Meanwhile, Altria Group Inc. spun off its Philip Morris International cigarette business.

The Dow rose 247.44, or 1.90%, to 13,289.29, near its highs of the session. The blue chip index tumbled 280 points on Tuesday amid pessimism about the Fed's intentions. Broader stock indicators also jumped. The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 31.40, or 2.19%, to 1,463.76, while the Nasdaq composite index gained 62.52, or 2.50%, to 2,563.16. Bonds fell back as investors moved back into stocks. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.57% from 4.52% late Tuesday.



Indian ADRs end higher; Patni Computers up almost 7%

Indian ADRs had a very good day yesterday and all of them ended in the green. Patni Computers was up almost 7%. In the technology pack, Infosys Technolgoies was up 4.07% at 47, Patni Computers was up 6.95% at 24, Satyam Computers was up 3.62% at 24.61, while Wipro ended the day 4.07% higher at 14.06.

In the non-technology pack, HDFC Bank was up 3.81% at 84.50, VSNL was up 3.65% at 18.47, ICICI Bank was up 1.15% at 42.38, MTNL was up 4.83% at 6.73, Tata Motors was up 3.33% at 16.43, Dr Reddy's Lab was up 2.15% at 15.69 and Sterlite was up 4.42% at 15.35.