AlHijjah 17, 1436, October 01, 2015, SPA -- U.S. stocks closed higher by about 1.5 percent or more Wednesday, but the major averages still posted the worst quarter in four years. In U.S. economic news, the September ADP Employment report showed that private companies added 200,000 jobs. In international economic news, soft data in Japan and the euro zone boosted hopes of more stimulus in those regions. Japanese industrial production unexpectedly fell 0.5 percent in August for the second-straight month of declines, government data showed. For the first time in six months, euro zone prices fell in September from the same period last year, according to the European Union's statistics office Eurostat. The U.S. dollar traded higher against major world currencies. Light sweet crude oil for November delivery lost 14 cents to $45.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while gold futures dropped $11.60 to $1,115.20 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 230.83, or 1.44 percent, to 16,279.96. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index added 35.93, or 1.91 percent, to 1,920.02. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 102.84, or 2.28 percent, to 4,620.17.
