Fueled by Intel’s earnings home run, the Dow posted its biggest one-day gain in nearly four months on Wednesday and the Nasdaq Composite climbed for the sixth-straight day as Wall Street’s earnings fears continue to vanish amid surprisingly positive results.

Today's Markets

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 256.72 points, or 3.07%, to 8616.21, the Standard & Poor's 500 rose 26.84 points, or 2.96%, to 932.68 and the Nasdaq Composite picked up 63.17 points, or 3.51%, to 1862.90. The consumer-friendly FOX 50 added 20.53 points, or 3.06%, to 691.15.

Wednesday’s triple-digit surge pushed the Dow to one-month highs and puts the benchmark index more than 450 points higher over the past three days alone. In stark contrast to the apprehension that dragged stocks down over the past month, the markets have been buoyed by a very encouraging first inning of what's sure to be a long earnings season.

"We’ve had great earnings come out so I think people are becoming a little more optimistic on the stock market,” NSYE trader Doreen Mogavero told FOX Business. “Certainly today people are feeling a lot better than they were a week ago.”

This week's rally began on high hopes for Goldman Sachs (GS), which blew expectations out of the water with a record profit on Tuesday. Chip maker Intel (INTC) followed suit, easily beating the Street and issuing positive guidance, pushing the Nasdaq Composite to its longest win streak since November.

“Intel on top of Goldman is a pretty strong recipe for a rally,” NYSE trader Jason Weisberg of Seaport Securities told FOX Business. “Goldman crushed the ball and Intel’s guidance looks like they are going to crush the ball too.”

Wednesday represented the strongest one-day gain for the Dow since March 23, which was when Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner released new details to his bank bailout plan. Almost all 30 components of the Dow closed in positive territory Wednesday, led by Intel, American Express (AXP) and Caterpillar (CAT). Defensive stocks like McDonald's (MCD) and Pfizer (PFE) lagged behind.

The Nasdaq Composite climbed even higher than the broader market as tech stocks like BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIMM) and Adobe (ADBE) surged on the Intel results.

“We appear to be off to a good start for the earnings season. I am just very skeptical and have been on the sell side since our highs six weeks ago,” Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital Markets, said in a note. “I think it is important to remember that the macro picture is still deteriorating -- though at a slower pace."

In a fresh reminder of that still-weak macro picture, the Federal Reserve's policy minutes revealed the central bank now sees unemployment topping 10% later this year. At the same time, the Fed upgraded its GDP estimates and sees the recession ending “before long.” 

But all eyes were on earnings on Wednesday amid better-than-expected results from Intel, fast food giant Yum Brands (YUM), American Airlines parent AMR Corp. (AMR) and USA Today publisher Gannett (GCI). Underscoring how Wall Street’s earnings jitters have quickly turned into earnings enthusiasm, 22 of the 24 stocks that have yet to report results this week closed higher, led by Citigroup (C).  

A day after Goldman reported record profits, shares of Intel soared on the tech giant’s adjusted-profit of 18 cents per share, which beat the Street by 10 cents. Intel’s revenue tumbled by a better-than-expected 15% from a year ago and was up from last quarter.

The tech giant also issued a third-quarter revenue and gross margin forecast that topped estimates, giving Wall Street hope that the PC market is mending. Intel’s gain spread throughout the semiconductor sector as all 18 stocks in the group closed higher, led by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), STMicroelectronics (STM) and Altera (ALTR), which also beat the Street. 

Wednesday's rally also appeared to be a follow-through on the Goldman numbers as the financial sector was the biggest percentage winner, up nearly 5%, led by insurers like MetLife (MET) and Hartford Financial (HIG). 

On the economic front, the Labor Department said consumer prices rose 0.7% in June, slightly more than expected and the largest jump in 11 months.. Excluding food and energy prices, CPI grew 0.2%, twice as much as expected.

But the report didn't appear to spark inflation fears as much of the increase stemmed from the largest increase in gasoline prices in almost five years. At the same time, year-over-year CPI tumbled by 1.4% -- the largest annual drop in nearly 60 years.

Meanwhile, crude oil, which had tumbled in nine of the previous 10 trading days, enjoyed its biggest one-day gain since June 4 following an inventory report. Crude settled up $2.02 per barrel, or 3.39%, to $61.54, its highest level in a week. The inventory data showed crude stockpiles tumbled by a larger-than-expected 2.8 million barrels, the fifth-straight weekly decline.

Corporate Movers

CIT Group (CIT) is expected to be rescued by the government within the next 24 hours, Reuters reported. Shares of CIT Group were halted shortly before the closing bell but no news was released. CIT is nearing a deal with regulators on an aid package that would allow the commercial lender to transfer assets from its holding company to its bank and pledge some of those assets at the Federal Reserve’s discount window, The Wall Street Journal reported. 

Gannett (GCI) surged almost 30% after the newspaper company posted a better-than-expected adjusted-profit of 46 cents per share on $1.41 billion in revenue. Analysts had expected the parent of USA Today to earn 37 cents per share on $1.44 in revenue.

Boeing (BA) plans to eliminate about 1,000 positions from its missile defense program and future combat systems unit due to shrinking defense budgets and shifting priorities.

Bank of America (BAC) walking away from its deal to buy Merrill Lynch last year would have been a “colossal lack of judgment,” former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson plans to tell Congress. According to excepts of his testimony, Paulson plans to tell lawmakers he acted appropriately in warning BofA CEO Ken Lewis could have been ousted if the bank abandoned its deal.

Yum Brands (YUM) saw its shares tumble 5.5% a day after the parent of KFC and Pizza Hut slashed its 2009 sales guidance. Yum, which is second only to McDonald’s (MCD) in global fast-food chains, also posted an adjusted-profit of 50 cents per share, topping estimates by 7 cents.

Janus Capital (JNS) surprised the Street late Monday by announcing the resignation of CEO Gary Black. Tim Armour, a Janus director, will take over on an interim basis. The change at the top comes after Black unsuccessfully shopped Janus to a number of potential suitors in recent months, Reuters reported. 

Abbot Labs (ABT) posted a 2.6% decline in adjusted-quarterly profit to 83 cents a share, matching estimates from analysts. The nutrition and pharmaceuticals company said worldwide sales were up 10% from a year ago to $7.5 billion, led by Humira sales and general nutrition revenue.

AMR Corp. (AMR), the parent of American Airlines, posted an adjusted-loss of $1.14 per share in the second quarter amid a 21% plunge in revenue to $4.9 billion. The results topped expectations for a loss of $1.29 per share on $4.87 billion in revenue.

Data Dump

In one of the first looks at the manufacturing sector in July, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said its manufacturing index rose to -0.6, versus -9.4 in June. The survey plunged to an all-time low of -38.23 in March.

Global Markets

European stocks climbed for the third-straight day. London's FTSE 100 jumped 2.57% to 4346.46, France's CAC 40 gained 2.9% to 3171.27 and Germany's DAX climbed 3.07% to 4928.44. 

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.08% to 9269.25, Hong Kong's Hang Seng soared 2.09% to 18258.66 and China's Shanghai Composite advanced 1.38% to 3188.55.