How the major stock indexes fared on Wednesday (AP)

Encouraging news about the U.S. housing market and the prospect of a beefed-up International Monetary Fund bailout effort for troubled countries helped stocks to their highest close since last summer.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 96.88 points, or 0.8 percent, to close at 12,578.95.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 14.37 points, or 1.1 percent, to 1,308.04.

The Nasdaq composite index added 41.63 points, or 1.5 percent, to 2,769.71.

For the year to date:

The Dow is up 361.39, or 3 percent.

The S&P 500 is up 50.44 points, or 4 percent.

The Nasdaq is up 164.56 points, or 6.3 percent.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120118/ap_on_bi_ge/us_wall_street_box

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