The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 13,000 and nearly breached 13,100 in late trading Wednesday.
Exxon Mobile (XOM) announced an incread of its quarterly dividend to $0.35 from $0.32, and Alcoa (AA) announced that it is exploring the sale of its packaging and consumer units.
Outside the Dow, the tech sector also showed strength, with shares of Amazon (AMZN) rising over 25% to $56.81 after announcing profits doubled on strong sales growth. Sun Microsystems (SUNW), however, fell short of analyst expectations and dropped over 11%.
The Commerce Department announced that demand for durable goods rose 3.4% in March, paving the way for the rally.
Recent weakness in the US Dollar has also helped many of the Dow components, which collectively gross 40% of their revenues from overseas.