US stocks end higher as major banks shore up First Republic

The Wall Street stocks finished solidly higher Thursday after a consortium of major US private banks announced a $30 billion rescue package for embattled lender First Republic. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 1.2 percent at 32,246.55, the broad-based S&P 500 gained 1.8 percent to 3,960.28, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 2.5 percent to 11,717.28.