Optimism that China's economy may be recovering boosted the markets during the midday with the Dow leaping 150 points to 17,871. Nasdaq soared 52 points to 4,924.
On the upside
GoPro (Nasdaq: GPRO) hired Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) designer Danny Coster.
Gerdau (NYSE: GGB) stock rose for the fourth day in a row.
Uni-Pixel (Nasdaq: UNXL) expanded its relationship with a client from two programs to four programs that will feature Uni-Pixel's XTouch and Diamond Guard products.
On the downside
MannKind's (Nasdaq: MNKD) auditor issued a going-concern warning to the biopharmaceutical.
Rice Energy (NYSE: RICE) priced its public offering of more than 29.8 million common shares at the discounted price of $16.35 per share.
Approximately 37,000 unionized Verizon (NYSE: VZ) workers went on strike.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by 7 to 2 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 soared 16 points to 2,077. Bitcoin held steady at $422.