Wednesday, the Dow gained 171.14 points (0.70%) to finish at 24,575.62, the NASDAQ was up 5.41 points (0.08%) at 7,025.77, and the S&P 500 increased 5.80 points (0.22%) to 2,638.70. The Russell 2000 was down 3.20 points (0.22%) at 1,454.26, and the Wilshire 5000 closed 42.42 points (0.16%) higher at 27,256.90.

The price of the 10-year Treasury note was down 1/32, increasing its yield to 2.745%. The price of the 30-year Treasury bond was up 1/32, decreasing its yield to 3.062%.

ON THIS DATE: In 1848, James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget at Sutter’s Mill in northern California. The discovery led to the gold rush of 1849. In 1935, Krueger Brewing Company placed the first canned beer on sale in Richmond, Virginia. In 1943, President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill concluded a wartime conference in Casablanca, Morocco. In 1965, Winston Churchill died at the age of 90. In 1985, Penny Harrington became the first woman police chief of a major city, when she assumed the duties as head of the Portland, Oregon, force of 940 officers and staff. In 1986, the Voyager 2 space probe flew past Uranus. The probe came within 50,679 miles of the seventh planet of the solar system. In 2002, Congress began a hearing on the collapse of Enron Corp. In 2003, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security began operations under Tom Ridge.