NEW YORK, July 13 (UPI) -- U.S. stock indexes backed off earlier gains in late-afternoon trading Wednesday but still snapped a three-day skid on the New York Stock Exchange.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 44.73 points, or 0.7 percent, to close at 12,491.61.
The Nasdaq Composite picked up 10.18 points, or 0.40 percent, to finish at 2,792.95.
The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 4.08 points, or 0.31 percent, to close at 1,317.72.
Investors sent indexes soaring after Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress the Fed was "prepared to respond" if stimulus was needed, but the enthusiasm faded during the afternoon.
"We had good strength on strong volumes on the morning, and it's been giving it back this afternoon -- though this has been coming on lower volumes, and is led by the banks, brokers and semiconductor stocks," Sal Arnuk, co-head of equity trading at Themis Trading LLC in New Jersey, told The Wall Street Journal.
The NYSE listed volume was 3.46 billion shares.
The 10-year treasury note closed at 2.8770 percent.
The euro rose to $1.4140 from Tuesday's $1.3976. Against the yen, the dollar was 78.9850 from Tuesday's 79.4100 yen.
In London, the FTSE 100 closed at 5,906.43, up 37.47.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei Average closed at 9.963.14, up 37.22.
