US stocks climb as investors shake off bank concerns ahead of new economic data

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• US stocks surged on Wednesday as fears of systemic risk in the US banking system receded.

• The tech sector led stocks higher as interest rates remained relatively subdued.

• Investors are awaiting a new set of economic data with jobless claims on Thursday and PCE on Friday.

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US stocks surged on Wednesday as investors got more comfortable with the idea that the US banking system is not on the brink of a crisis following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

Technology stocks led the market higher, with the Nasdaq 100 soaring almost 2% as interest rates remained relatively subdued compared to levels seen just a few weeks ago.

Interest rates have dropped to levels not seen in months, with the 2-year US Treasury yield hovering around 4% and the 10-year yield at about 3.6%. That's a far cry from the levels seen earlier this month, with the 2-year above 5% and the 10-year above 4%.

Investors will be focused on fresh economic data for the rest of the week. Jobless claims on Thursday will give investors a sense of how strong the job market is, while personal consumption expenditures data on Friday will help investors understand how much inflationary pressure remains in the economy.

Here's where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. ET close on Wednesday:

• S&P 500: 4,027.81, up 1.42%

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 32,717.60, up 1.00% (323.35 points)

• Nasdaq Composite: 11,926.24, up 1.79%

Here's what else happened today:

• Binance customers pulled more than $1 billion from the troubled cryptocurrency giant the day US authorities slammed it with a lawsuit.

• Shares of Silicon Valley Bank reopened for trading, falling to as low as a penny before it soared more than 10,000% to above $1.

• Households are predicting that mortgage rates will soar from 6.4% to 8.4%, the latest edition of the New York Federal Reserve's annual SCE Housing Survey showed.

• Silicon Valley Bank saw $142 billion in deposits fly out the door in just two days in what led to the fastest fall of a bank in history.

In commodities, bonds and crypto:

• West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 0.28% to $72.92 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, dropped 0.48% to $78.27.

• Gold fell 0.54% to $1,962.80 per ounce.

• The yield on the 10-year Treasury was flat at 3.57%.

• Bitcoin jumped 3.85% to $28,433, while ether jumped 1.75% to $1,810.

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