U.S. shares rallied for a second day Wednesday in the optimism the Federal Reserve is nearing the end of its cycle of interest-rate increases.

The day's scant economic news was mixed. Crude oil futures crossed 63 dollars a barrel, further cooling investor enthusiasm.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February, rose 28 cents to close at 63.42 dollars a barrel. Oil prices had closed up more than two dollars in New York and London on Tuesday owing to the Russia-Ukraine row, which fueled concerns about Russian energy supplies in general.

Hefty orders for U.S. aircraft buoyed otherwise weak factory orders in November, Commerce Department report showed Wednesday.

Separate data showed mortgage applications fell for the fourth straight week as the U.S. housing market gave further signs of slowing after a five-year boom.

Traders are quietly cheering for a minor economic slowdown, in the hopes that it will bring a quicker end to the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes. The Fed has raised short-term interest rates 13 straight times in the past year-and-a-half.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 32.74, or 0.3 percent, to 10,880.15.

Broader stock indicators were higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 4.66, or 0.37 percent, to 1,273.46. The tiny gain was enough to send the index to a four-and-a-half year high. The Nasdaq composite index rose 19.72, or 0.88 percent, to 2,263.46, reflecting a 10.01 dollars jump in Google Inc. after Bear Stearns upgraded the stock.

Advancing issues led decliners by more than 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where the volume was 1.91 billion shares, up from 1.11 billion at the same time Tuesday.

Source: Xinhua