US stocks jump in an upbeat end to tumultuous quarter; Dow rises 1%

Wall Street surged on Thursday, bringing an upbeat end to a tumultuous, holiday-shortened week as technology stocks rebounded, but the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted their biggest quarterly declines in more than two years.

The year started strong, but early gains evaporated as the markets entered a correction over interest rate jitters, fears of an escalating import tariff dispute between the United States and China, and a selloff in the tech sector.

Tech stocks reversed course on Thursday and the S&P 500 information technology index closed up 2.2 percent after reaching a session high of 3.2 percent, helping push the S&P 500 up 1.4 percent, with the Dow and Nasdaq also rallying.

"All the fears now look overblown. Interest rates, the concern about tariffs, we're going to get into a trade war," said Doug Cote, chief market strategist at Voya Investment Management in New York. "But now clearer heads are prevailing.

If anything this is a buying opportunity." Technology gains were led by Facebook, Intel , Alphabet and Microsoft shares.