How major US stock indexes fared Wednesday

U.S. stocks rallied Wednesday, but only after zooming up, down and back up again in a fitting end to a wild month and quarter for Wall Street.

Prospects for additional support from Congress for the economy helped drive the day’s trading, as they have for weeks. The S&P 500 veered between a rise of 0.1% and of 1.7% through the day.

For the quarter, the S&P 500 rallied 8.5% to follow up on its 20% surge in the spring. But momentum slowed sharply at the end, and the S&P 500 fell in September to its first monthly loss since March.

On Wednesday:

The S&P 500 rose 27.53 points, or 0.8%, to 3,363.00.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 329.04, or 1.2%, to 27,781.70.

The Nasdaq composite added 82.26, or 0.7%, to 11,167.51.

The Russell 2000 index of small company stocks picked up 2.96 points, or 0.2%, to 1,507.69.

For the week:

The S&P 500 rose 64.54 points, or 2%.

The Dow rose 607.74 points, or 2.2%.

The Nasdaq rose 253.94 points, or 2.3%.

The Russell 2000 rose 32.78 points, or 2.2%.

For the year:

The S&P 500 is up 132.22 points, or 4.1%.

The Dow is down 756.74 points, or 2.7%.

The Nasdaq is up 2,194.90 points, or 24.5%.

The Russell 2000 is down 160.78 points, or 9.6%.