Overcoming a second day of a stabilizing U.S. dollar, stocks closed moderately higher on Wednesday, leaving the Dow with its first six-day win streak in almost three months and at yet another 13-month high.

Today’s Markets

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 44.29 points, or 0.43%, to 10291.26, the S&P 500 gained 5.50 points, or 0.50%, to 1098.51 and the Nasdaq Composite picked up 15.82 points, or 0.74%, to 2166.90. The FOX 50 added 4.59 points, or 0.57%, to 806.97.

Wednesday's modest gains were driven by the financial sector and upbeat economic news out of Asia that suggests the world's fastest growing major economy is still on its path to recovery. While stocks ended solidly in the green, they were well off their best levels as the Dow had been up 95 points earlier in the day before the greenback reversed course. Still, the latest gains underscore how the selling that dominated the end of last month have faded.

“Once we broke though 10000 [on the Dow] a lot of investors were saying, ‘I missed the boat on this. I have to jump on,’” Jonathan Corpina, managing director at Meridian Equity Partners, told FOX Business. “This market is going to continue to trade higher whether you like it or not and whether you believe it or not.”

The Dow, which settled at its highest level since Oct. 3, 2008, posted its longest winning streak since rallying eight-straight days at the end of August. Up 519 points over the past six sessions, the blue-chip index was led Wednesday by financial giant Bank of America (BAC), Intel (INTC) and Home Depot (HD). On the other hand, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Merck (MRK) closed with modest losses. 

Without any U.S. economic news on the agenda and with some companies observing Veterans Day, trading volume was below average on Wednesday.

The financial sector led the way up, climbing more than 1%. Individual banking stocks such as BofA, Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) and SunTrust Banks (STI) climbed even higher.

Wednesday's gains began overseas as Asian markets rallied around a 16.1% jump in industrial production out of China for October. At the same time, Japan said its machinery orders jumped by 10.5% in September, doubling economists’ estimates.

The back-and-forth session underscores how much the markets have come to rely on a weaker dollar to fuel demand for commodities and make U.S. exports cheaper. After sinking another 0.4% to fresh 15-month lows, the greenback turned around by late morning to close slightly higher. 

The rebounding dollar put pressure on the commodities complex as crude oil closed off its highs, weighing on energy stocks. Crude settled up 23 cents a barrel, or 0.29%, to $79.28. However, gold rallied for the eighth session in a row -- the longest streak since Jan. 2006 -- gaining $12.10 an ounce, or 1.10%, to $1114. Basic materials stocks like Newmont Mining (NEM) and U.S. Steel (X) advanced on the higher prices.

Corporate Movers

American International Group's (AIG) stock trimmed its losses after CEO Robert Benmosche said he remains "committed" to leading the bailed-out insurer despite a Wall Street Journal report he is considering jumping ship amid frustrations with pay policies. In a memo, Benmosche said he and the board are "indeed frustrated" with the pay restrictions imposed by the "pay czar" but that he is "continuing to fight" on employees' behalf.

General Electric (GE) is nearing a $1.8 billion sale to unload its security systems unit to United Technologies (UTX) in a deal that would boost UTC’s security business and give GE the cash it is said to want to expand its core businesses, Bloomberg News reported. Meanwhile, NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker is set to lead a proposed joint venture between GE and Comcast (CMCSA) that would house NBCU, Dow Jones Newswires reported. 

Macy’s (M) projected a weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter profit of $1.00 to $1.05 a share. The cautious outlook overshadowed the department store’s non-GAAP loss of 3 cents a share for the third quarter, which beat analysts’ estimates.

Toll Brothers (TOL) soared more than 16% a day after the luxury home builder projected a better-than-expected 30% decline in fiscal fourth-quarter revenue to $486.6 million. Analysts had only been expecting $386.2 million.

GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) H1N1 flu vaccine received the green light from the Food and Drug Administration, allowing the U.K. drug maker to produce 7.6 million doses at a time. 

Adobe Systems (ADBE) announced plans late Tuesday to slash 600 jobs, or 9% of its workforce. The creative arts software company said the cuts would be across all of its divisions but a spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires about half of the cuts would be in the San Francisco area.

Global Markets

European indexes climbed almost 1% across the board. The U.K's FTSE 100 gained 0.69% to 5266.75, France's CAC 40 rose 0.76% to 3814.39 and Germany's DAX rallied 0.98% to 5668.35. 

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 was basically unchanged at 9871.68, Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed up 1.61% to 22,627.21 and China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.11% to 3175.19.