Wall Street gains at gold's expense

US stocks posted strong gains for a second day on Wednesday as investors jumped back into beaten-down financial shares and backed away from safer assets like gold in volatile trading.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 142.51 points, or 1.28 percent, at 11,319.27. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 15.19 points, or 1.31 percent, at 1,177.54. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 21.63 points, or 0.88 percent, at 2,467.69.

European shares hit a one-week closing high on better-than-expected US durable goods data and on hopes that the US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke could signal on Friday further stimulus measures to help the economic recovery.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares gained for a third straight day and ended 1.4 percent stronger at 936.79 points, the highest close since Aug. 17. But it is still down 13.4 percent this month and has fallen 16.5 percent in 2011 on concerns about the pace of global economic recovery.

The Nikkei stock average fell as Moody's Investors Service's downgrade of Japan's sovereign debt rating spurred some foreign investors to take profits, erasing intraday gains made on speculation of more US easing.

The benchmark Nikkei ended down 1.1 percent at 8,639.61, after rising as high as 8,825.27 in the morning session. The broader Topix shed 1.1 percent to 742.24.