Stocks Pop to Open 2013 -- Wednesday's IP Market Recap

BAM! How’s that for starting off the new year?

A New Year’s Eve bump in Monday’s trading was followed by a full-blown rally on Wednesday after lawmakers put the finishing touches on a bill to avert the fiscal cliff late Tuesday.

The net result was all three indices finishing well in the black. The Nasdaq roared ahead 3.07% to finish at 3,112.26, the S&P 500 vaulted up 2.54% to 1,462.42, and the Dow — fueled by gains in every last component — gained 2.35% to close at 13,412.71.

The Dow was lifted higher by the likes of Caterpillar (NYSE:), which moved ahead more than 4%, while shares of aluminum producer Alcoa (NYSE:) finished 3% better.

However, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:) led the Big Board with 5% gains, while fellow tech stocks Intel (NASDAQ:, +3.7%) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:, +3.6%) frolicked along. Apple‘s (NASDAQ:) 3% rise on the day was welcome news to the S&P and Nasdaq. Financial stocks thrived, too, with Citigroup (NYSE:, +4.3%) and Bank of America (NYSE:, +3.6%) leading banks higher.

Bridging tech and finance, credit card processors MasterCard (NYSE:

, +3.9%) and Visa (NYSE:, +2.5%) both hit all-time highs during the day.

Shares of ZipCar (NASDAQ:) rocketed ahead nearly 50% after Avis (NASDAQ:) announced it will purchase the car-sharing and hourly rental company supplier for $491 million, representing a 49% premium to Monday’s closing price. Shares of Avis finished up over 4% on the news.

However, bucking the day’s trend in a big way was headphone and audio accessories company Skullcandy (NASDAQ:), which lost nearly 13% after getting pasted in a report by Jefferies (NYSE:) that saw its rating fall from “buy” to “underperform.”