Stocks managed modest gains Wednesday after enjoying a strong rally earlier in the session. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 53.58, or 0.5 percent, to 11,613.53, led higher by shares of manufacturing giants Alcoa and Caterpillar, whose stock rose 3.5 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively. But shares of AT&T fell nearly 4 percent following news that the U.S. government had filed a lawsuit to block the telecommunications giant's proposed $39 billion acquisition of wireless rival T-Mobile. The S&P 500 rose 5.97, or 0.5 percent, to 1,218.89. The Nasdaq composite index rose 3.35, or 0.1 percent, to 2,579.46. Shares of Oracle rose 2 percent despite a report that the U.S. government is investigating the software giant's business practices in Africa.
