Stocks rose on Wednesday, with another tech share rally surging the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to fresh record highs. Market sentiment was encouraged by positive coronavirus vaccine news, as well as strong economic and corporate earnings data.

Coronavirus vaccine frontrunner Moderna (MRNA  ) announced on Wednesday that its experimental COVID-19 vaccine candidate had shown positive immune responses in clinical trial participants aged 56 and order. The biotech's results showed that immunity responses were similar to those found in clinical trial participants in the age group 18-55. This suggests that the vaccine could be effective for most of the population. The candidate is currently conducting a large-scale trial to determine if it is both safe and effective.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department reported that durable goods orders soared 11.2% in July, more than double the 4.8% increase that consensus economists expected in the preliminary report. Durable goods orders rose only 7.7% in June.

"The sharp rise in durable goods orders last month was flattered by a surge in transport orders, but cure orders are nevertheless almost back to the pre-pandemic level, suggesting that the recovery in business equipment investment has been V-shaped," Michael Pearce, senior U.S. economist for Capital Economics wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday.

Here's how the market settled on Wednesday:

S&P 500 Index (SPY  ): +1.02% ot +35.14 points to 3,478.76

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ): +0.30% or +83.61 points to 28,332.05

Nasdaq Composite Index (QQQ  ): +1.73% or +198.59 pints to 11,665.06

For Major Stock News, Salesforce.com (CRM  ) rallied over 26% to close at a new all-time high after the stock reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings. Tech giants--Amazon (AMZN  ), Apple (AAPL  ), Facebook (FB  ), Google (GOOGL  ), Microsoft (MSFT  ) and Netflix (NFLX  )--all rallied on Wednesday.

For Sector Performance, industries ended Wednesday's session split. The performance gainers were Communication Services +3.71%, Information Technology +2.05%, Consumer Discretionary $1.46%, Material +0.97%, Consumer Staples +0.10%, and Industrials +0.05%. The performance losers were Energy -2.23%, Utilities -1.20%, Real Estate -0.74%, Financials -0.48% and Health Care -0.12%.

For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar (UUP  ) gained, but stayed relatively low as investors weighed Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's upcoming speech on Thursday. The dollar index was up 0.15% against other global currencies on Wednesday. Gold (GLD  ) prices were also impacted by Powell's upcoming speech, with spot gold prices increased 1% to $1,948.07 per ounce and futures closing up 1.5% to $1,952.50 per ounce. Crude oil prices remained relatively unchanged as U.S. producers shut down operations in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of the coming hurricane in the region. International benchmark Brent Crude (BNO  ) ticked lower to price at $45.64 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (USO  ) closed slightly higher at $43.39 per barrel.

For Thursday, market participants will focus on Powell's highly anticipated speech on the central bank's monetary policy framework review. The Labor Department is also set to release weekly unemployment claims on Thursday.