<p>U.S. stocks rallied on Wednesday (November 28) after comments from House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, on a possible compromise to avoid the "fiscal cliff" turned the market around.</p><br /><p>The S&P 500 rebounded from a 1 percent decline, gaining more than 20 points from its low after Boehner, an Ohio Republican, said he was optimistic that a budget deal to avoid big spending cuts and tax hikes can be worked out. President Barack Obama added to the good feelings, saying he hoped to get a deal done in the next four weeks.</p><br /><p>Whether or not those remarks reflect the reality of negotiations is not clear.</p><br /><p>In expectation of higher dividend tax rates in 2013, companies have been shifting dividends or announcing special payouts to shareholders.</p><br /><p>Costco Wholesale Corp up 6.3 percent at $102.58 (USD), was the S&P 500's biggest percentage gainer after it became the latest company to announce a special dividend</p><br /><p>The market's move marked the second straight day where a leading legislator dictated trading action. On Tuesday, stocks fell on pessimistic remarks from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada.</p><br /><p>The market has been swinging for weeks now on headlines from Washington, with Wednesday's gyrations once again highlighting the importance that Wall Street is giving to finding a solution to avoid the series of tax increases and spending cuts that could push the U.S. economy into recession.</p><br /><p>The Dow Jones industrial average rose 106.98 points, or 0.83 percent, to 12,985.11 at the close. The S&P 500 gained 10.99 points, or 0.79 percent, to 1,409.93. The Nasdaq Composite added 23.99 points, or 0.81 percent, to close at 2,991.78.</p><br /><p>The S&P 500 bounced off a strong support area near 1,385 that includes both its 200- and 14-day moving averages. It closed above 1,400 for the third session in four - an optimistic sign for stock bulls.</p><br /><p>Knight Capital Group Inc shares jumped 15.2 percent to $3.42 (USD) on news that Getco Holding proposed a $1.4 billion (USD) merger with Knight, while Virtu Financial offered to buy Knight for at least $1.1 billion (USD).</p><br /><p>Nearly 6.1 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and NYSE MKT, below the daily average so far this year of about 6.48 billion shares.</p><br /><p>On the NYSE, roughly seven stocks rose for every three that fell, and on Nasdaq, five issues rose for every three that fell.</p>
