Comments by Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen that interest rates would remain low for some time sent the markets soaring to a sharply higher close with the Dow surging 134 points to 16,457. Nasdaq jumped 43 points to 4198.
On the upside
Bargain hunters lifted shares of Galena Biopharm (Nasdaq: GALE).
Deutsche Bank upgraded Builders FirstSource (Nasdaq: BLDP) from a Hold rating to a Buy rating.
Shares of Forward Industries (Nasdaq: FORD) continued rising after a Seeking Alpha contributor wrote last week that the company had strong growth potential.
On the downside
Profit taking weighed down shares of Oi (NYSE: OIBR).
UTi Worldwide (Nasdaq: UTIW) reported a wider than expected loss for the fourth quarter.
Credit Suisse downgraded BlackBerry (Nasdaq: BBRY) from a Neutral rating to an Underperform rating while Evercore Partners downgraded the company from an Equal Weight rating to an Underweight rating.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 3 to 1 on both the NYSE and on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 climbed 14 points to 1872. Bitcoin lost $12.25 or 2.62% to $454.72.