Stocks rallied on Wall Street Thursday as the market shook off several days of wobbly trading.

The S&P 500 jumped 1.7%, its biggest gain since March.

The wave of buying built on momentum from a day earlier, when the market broke a three-day losing streak.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.6%, while the Nasdaq rose 1.7%.

Health care stocks did especially well, led by a 4.2% gain in UnitedHealth Group after the leading health insurer easily beat analysts' earnings forecasts and raised its outlook.

Apple and Microsoft each rose more than 2%. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 1.52%.