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The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged to 10,015.86, over the 10,000 mark for the 26th time since 1999 and measuring a 53% gain in just seven months.
The 30-component Dow rose 144.80 points, or 1.47%, its best point and percentage rises since August 21st and other stock benchmarks posted similar gains.
On March 9, 2009, the Dow closed at a 12-year low of 6547.05.
In the interval, the measure has recovered almost half its 17-month decline of 7617.48 points from its record peak of 14164.53 hit in October 2007.
The catalysts for Wednesday's moves were the third quarter results from chip giant Intel and the biggest Wall Street gainer from the bust, JPMorgan Chase.
JPMorgan's best performer was its investment unit and the big Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs are currently making huge gains from trading, which is feeding back into the markets.
JPMorgan however, warned about the consumer credit markets and the US commercial real estate market is currently in a wobbly state.
Besides, the federal funds rate is close to zero, which together with other actions by the Fed, is a sound base for a well run financial firm to exploit.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 gained 1.75% and is up 61% from its 12-year low on March 9th.
Research firm Ned Davis Research says the Standard & Poor's 500 index trades at about 20 times the median company's profit for the past year - - above the average of 17 since 1972.
The tech-dominant Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1.51% and is up 71% from its March lows.
It closed at 2,172 on Wednesday compared with its March 2000 all-time peak of 5,049 - - and then the dot-come bubble burst.
The Dow closed above the 10,000 mark, for the first time, on March 29, 1999. Prices rose an average of about 2.8 percent each year in the last decade, meaning the Dow would have to reach about 13,200 in today’s numbers to equal its value then.
In 1966, the Dow came within 20 points of hitting 1,000; it moved above 1,000 in 1972, but it wasn't until 1985, that it exceeded 1,500.
The Dow peaked at 381.17 on Sept 3, 1929. It crashed on October 28 and 29, 1929, falling from 301 to 230 or 23.6%
One year after the peak, the Dow closed at 237.54, down 37.3% from its peak. It continued to slide until July 8, 1932 where it bottomed at 41.22, down 89.2% of its value over 2.5 years
The Dow did not cross above 381 again until Nov 23, 1954 - - over 25 years after its 1929 peak.
