Stocks rally ahead of Fed minutes; crude oil climbs

U.S. stocks jumped on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 rebounding from a five-session dive, after positive data on the labor market and as investors bet minutes from the Federal Reserve would signal ongoing stimulus. “We had a solid jobs number from ADP, and Monsanto (MON) is officially company number 18 on the fourth-quarter earnings clock. Of those 18, only one — FedEx (FDX)– has missed. It’s the best start to any earnings season in over three years,” said Nick Raich, CEO at the Earnings Scout.”Here’s the kicker to that, no energy company has reported yet. The drop in energy-sector earnings estimates over the last 1-2 months is the worst deterioration we have measured in any sector since the financial sector earnings fell of a cliff in 2008,” he added.Monsanto rose after the seed producer reported a lower-than-expected drop in quarterly profit; J.C. Penney (JCP) rallied after the retailer reported a 3.7 percent gain in same-store sales for the holiday season; American Express (AXP) also gained after Goldman Sachs upgraded its shares to buy from neutral. Read More Early movers: JCP, AXP, PEP, SNE, SIRI, GD & more Private employers added 241,000 jobs to their payrolls in December, surpassing projections of a 226,000 gain, according to the ADP National Employment report. The figures come two days before the U.S. Labor Department’s nonfarm payrolls report, with economists surveyed by Reuters looking for employment growth of 240,000 last month and a jobless rate of 5.7 percent. After a 206-point leap, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow Jones Global Indexes: .DJI) was lately up 187.60 points, or 1.1 percent, to 17,559.24, with Home Depot (HD)pacing blue-chip gains that extended to 26 of 30 components. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) added 22.71 points, or 1.1 percent, to 2,025.32, with health care the strongest performer and all but one of its 10 major sectors rising. The Nasdaq (^IXIC) gained 51.28 points, or 1.1 percent, to 4,644.02.For every share falling, more than three climbed on the New York Stock Exchange, where 291 million shares traded as of 12:05 p.m. Eastern. Composite volume surpassed 1.6 billion.After jumping 18 percent over the last two days, the CBOE Volatility Index (^VIX), a measure of investor uncertainty, on Wednesday fell 7.3 percent to 19.57.

European stocks climbed and the euro dropped as the risk of deflation furthered the argument for monetary support. After dipping to $ 46.83 a barrel, its lowest since April 2009, West Texas Intermediate (New York Mercantile Exchange: @CL15G) rose 56 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $ 48.48 a barrel. Gold futures for February (CEC:Commodities Exchange Centre: @GC15G) fell $ 6.90, or 0.6 percent, to $ 1,212.50.00 an ounce. The U.S. dollar (Exchange:.DXY) rose against other global currencies and the 10-year Treasury (U.S.:US10Y) yield rose 3 basis points to 1.9722 percent. On Tuesday, U.S. stocks recovered a portion of their losses, with the S&P 500 back above 2,000 after falling below the level for the first time in nearly four weeks.

Read More S&P 500 records longest loss streak since late 2013 Coming Up This Week: Wednesday 2 p.m.: FOMC minutes Thursday 8:30 a.m.: Weekly jobless claims 3 p.m.: Consumer credit for November Friday 8:30 a.m.: Nonfarm payrolls for December 8:30 a.m.: Unemployment rate 10 a.m.: Wholesale inventories for November More From CNBC.com: At least 12 dead after shooting at Paris magazine Mortgage applications fall sharply over holidays Hamm’s ex-wife rejects $ 975M divorce check