US MARKETS
U.S. stocks bounced back Wednesday after a five-day slide, bolstered by a strong start to the corporate-earnings season and a drop in Spanish and Italian government borrowing rates. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 89.46 points, or 0.70%, to 12805.39, one day after the blue-chip index declined 1.7%, for its fifth straight decline and its biggest fall of the year. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index advanced 10.12 points, or 0.74%, to 1368.71, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 25.24 points, or 0.84%, to 3016.46. Leading the gains Wednesday were financial and consumer-discretionary stocks, two of Tuesday's hardest-hit sectors. Bank of America rose 3.8%, Boeing gained 1.7%, General Electric advanced 1.4%, and J.P. Morgan Chase rose 2.4% on a day in which all 10 sectors of the S&P 500 were in positive territory. Alcoa was the biggest advancer among Dow components, jumping 6.2% after a strong start to a new season of corporate earnings reports. The aluminum maker posted a surprise first-quarter adjusted profit of 10 cents a share, better-than-expected revenue growth and affirmed its forecast that global aluminum demand would increase 7% in 2012. In economic news, the cost of goods imported into the U.S. in March posted its largest gain in nearly a year, as petroleum prices jumped. The U.S. federal budget deficit also came in at $198.2 billion, a touch higher than expectations. The Federal Reserve's so-called "beige book" report on economic activity said the U.S. economy continued to expand at a modest-to-moderate pace through the end of March.

EUROPEAN MARKETS
European stock markets got some respite from the recent upheaval Wednesday, with banks rallying and bond yields in Italy and Spain easing further after a member of the European Central Bank sparked speculation about a restart of the bank's bond-buying program. Upbeat earnings news from Alcoa Inc. overnight also lifted sentiment. The Stoxx Europe 600 index closed 0.7% higher at 254.43. Heading lower however, Nokia Corp. dropped 15% after the telecom firm lowered its first-quarter outlook for its devices & services business. Italian banks posted the biggest gains after sharp falls the prior day. Intesa Sanpaolo SpA and UniCredit SpA each rallied 5.5%, while Banca Popolare di Milano Scarl added 5.9%. The FTSE MIB index surged 1.6% to 14,689.84. Yields pushed lower as European Central Bank Executive Board Member Benoit Coeure reportedly said the central bank still has the option of restarting its bond-buying program, given current market pressures, though it hasn't been used recently. In Spain, yields on 10-year government bonds were also lower, off 11 basis points at 5.83%. The IBEX 35 index jumped 1.9% to 7,576.70, lifted by Bankinter SA, up 4.6%, and BBVA SA, up 3.8%. The broader European banking sector was the main driver for the upward move in equities after HSBC lifted the group to overweight from neutral for the first time in four years. In Germany, banks helped lift the DAX 30 index 1% to 6,674.73. Deutsche Bank AG added 2.3% and Commerzbank AG gained 4.1%. French bank Credit Agricole SA rose 1.5%, while Peugeot SA added 2.3%. The French CAC 40 index gained 0.6% to 3,237.69. Miners were on the rise in the U.K. Fresnillo PLC added 3.4%, Kazakhmys PLC rose 1.9%, and heavyweight Rio Tinto PLC was up 0.9%. The FTSE 100 index closed 0.7% higher at 5,634.74.

ASIAN MARKETS
Most Asian markets fell Wednesday as heightened worries about rising Spanish and Italian bond yields weighed on investor sentiment, with the Tokyo market slumping to a seven-week low and suffering its longest losing streak in almost three years. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average declined 0.8% to 9458.74. Intraday, the index hit its lowest level since Feb. 17 before tepid bargain-hunting set in. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.1%, while China's Shanghai Composite edged 0.1% higher and Taiwan's Taiex gained 0.2%. South Korean markets were closed for national elections. A stronger yen, steep declines on Wall Street, and worries about European debt problems sent major exporters lower in Tokyo. Panasonic Corp. dropped 2.2%, Fujifilm Holdings Corp. shed 3.3% and Pioneer Corp. declined 1.3%. The decline in Tokyo also came as Sony Corp. and Sharp Corp. each disappointed with a weak earnings forecast. Sony's stock tumbled 4.5% and Sharp gave up 3.2%. The region's aluminum shares fell under the influence of the broader market decline. Nippon Light Metal lost 2.6% in Tokyo and United Co. Rusal dropped 2.1% in Hong Kong. Several resource firms declined on fresh worries about Europe and after crude-oil and copper prices declined overnight. Inpex shed 0.8% in Tokyo while in Hong Kong, Cnooc Ltd. and PetroChina gave up 2.1% and 1.5%, respectively. Property developers also contributed to the overall weakness in Hong Kong, where Sino Land tumbled 4%, CC Land Holdings fell 0.6% and Guangzhou R&F Properties shed 1.4%.

COMMODITIES
Base metals closed mostly higher on the London Metal Exchange Wednesday, as the previous session's selling pressure eased amid a weaker dollar and some opportunistic dip-buying. At the close, flagship three-month copper was 0.2% higher at $8,040 a metric ton. LME three-month aluminum was up 1.6% at $2,099/ton. Oil futures posted a 1.7% gain Wednesday, avoiding a third-straight losing session on a range of factors that supported the market, including new data on crude inventories that rose only slightly more than expected. Light, sweet crude for May delivery settled up $1.68 to $102.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude on the ICE Futures Europe exchange reversed early losses and ended up 30 cents or 0.3% to $120.18 a barrel. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said U.S. crude stocks rose 2.8 million barrels in the week ended April 6. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones projected a 2.2 million-barrel growth in supplies. Though the official number was higher than expected, the increase wasn't as outsized as American Petroleum Institute data Tuesday had suggested. Other data in the report were also bullish for prices. Draws on refined motor gasoline supplies were 4.3 million barrels for the week, much larger than the 1.4 million decline that was expected. And imports of raw crude declined to 8.5 million barrels a day. Gold futures ended nearly unchanged as worries about Europe's debt problems trickled back in to the market. The most actively traded contract, for June delivery, eased 40 cents to settle at $1,659.00 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.