In the commodities markets, oil prices rose on a steep drop in U.S. crude stockpiles, while cocoa and wheat futures fell.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) rose 12.54 points, or 0.11 percent, to 11,008.17, after sliding 93.89 points the previous day.

The Nasdaq composite index (.IXIC), meanwhile, jumped 77.63 points, or 2.32 percent, to 3,420.50, marking the tech-heavy juggernaut's first close past 3,400. Since Nov. 1, the Nasdaq has risen more than 15 percent and is up 56 percent since the first of the year.

Standard & Poor's 500 index (.SPX) rose 12.44 points, or 0.89 percent, to 1,417.08.

Analysts said they were not paying too much heed to the market's advance, given the rather thin trading volumes, but attributed the run-up to investors beefing up their portfolios with high-performance tech stocks.

"Success breeds success," said Mike Feeney, editor at Wall Street Strategies. "As these stocks continue to march higher, more money flows to them. Investors are pumping money into the tech names to get the returns."

In the broader market, losers hammered winners by about a 16-to-14 margin on moderate volume of about 733 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange. There were 264 stocks at new lows while only 45 were at new highs.

One analyst said the technology sector had lit up in part because Wall Street was plowing money into Internet stocks on a hunch that Americans will jump onto the Web in droves this season to do their Christmas shopping.

"I think today folks are concentrating on the fact that the holiday shopping season starts on Friday," said Charlie Crane, chief market strategist at Key Asset Management. "I think the investors are thinking this is going to be an Internet Christmas."

The 30-year U.S. Treasury bond weakened 4/32, or $1.25 on each $1,000 of face value, driving the yield, which moves in the opposite direction, up to 6.21 percent from a close of 6.19 percent on Tuesday. The bond market closed early at 2 p.m. (1900 GMT).

In economic news, the gross domestic product grew at a revised 5.5 percent pace in the third quarter, topping economists' forecasts for a rise of 5.0 percent.

In another government report, initial jobless claims for the week ending Nov. 20 fell to 274,000 from 287,000 in the previous week. Economists had expected claims to hold steady.

Wall Street was getting ready for the Thanksgiving Day holiday with both the stock and bond markets shuttering on Thursday for the holiday. On Friday, the stock market will close at 1 p.m. (1800 GMT) and bond trading will end at 2 p.m. (1900 GMT).

Leading the Nasdaq's charge were Internet companies, with TheStreet.com's Internet index (.DOT) closing up 18.75 points, or 1.98 percent, at 968.04.

In currency markets, the dollar rose to $1.0186 per euro and 104.66 Japanese yen from $1.0281 per euro and 104.35 yen late Tuesday.

The euro touched a low of $1.0156, a level not seen since July 19, and threatened to retest its all-time low near $1.01 before retracing some of its losses. The euro has tumbled about 14 percent from its lifetime high, reached hours after its official launch on Jan. 4.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for January delivery gained 43 cents to settle at $26.87 a barrel, in reaction to supply worries linked to a decline of more than 2 million barrels in U.S. oil inventories in the latest week. Oil prices also have run up this week after Iraq said it would halt exports under its oil-for-food deal with the United Nations.

Cocoa prices fell as protests by disgruntled farmers in top grower Ivory Coast failed to disrupt shipments, while the prospects of rain in the dry U.S. Plains growing region took wheat lower.

At the New York Coffee Sugar and Cocoa Exchange (CSCE), December delivery cocoa ended $22 lower at $833 a metric ton.

At the Chicago Board of Trade, December delivery wheat fell 4 cents to $2.39-1/4.

Overseas, London's FTSE 100 index (.FTSE) closed up 27.6 points or 0.42 percent at 6,561.8 points. In Tokyo, the Nikkei (.N225) rose 74.09 points or 0.39 percent to 18,896.21, the highest closing level since Aug. 21, 1997, after reaching a peak of 19,036.08.

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