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S&P 500 shakes off Brexit to 1.9% 2nd-quarter gain

Adam Shell
USA TODAY

The U.S. stock market kicked off the final day of a turbulent second quarter with big gains for a third straight session, as investors continued to downgrade the fallout of the Brexit vote.

At the 4 p.m. ET close, the S&P 500 stood was up 1.4% higher. The Dow Jones industrial average, which had posted its best back-to-back point gains since last August following the Brexit-driven sell-off Friday and Monday, gained another 235 points, or 1.3%. The Nasdaq composite gained 1.3%.

It was the first time the  Dow pieced together three straight days in a row with triple-digit gains since mid-February. The Dow has gained nearly 790 points the past three sessions.

It was a winning quarter for the Dow and the S&P 500, up 1.4% and 1.9%, respectively. For the first half of the year, the indexes are up 2.9% and 2.7%, respectively.

The Nasdaq, on the other hand, is down for the last three months -- off 0.6% -- and in a 3.3% hole for 2016.

Stock market gains picked up Thursday after Bank of England governor Mark Carney said the central bank would likely have to inject fresh stimulus this summer to offset the downside economic risks of the Brexit vote.

Wall Street was also looking beyond Brexit, and began shifting its focus to key coming events stateside, such as the June employment report next week and the start of the quarterly corporate earnings season.

Trader Jonathan Corpina, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, June 29, 2016.  (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

It has been a wild finish to the April-thru-June quarter. The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index entered the final day of the second quarter clinging to a quarterly gain of 0.5%. Wall Street and global markets were rocked last Thursday when Britain voted to leave the European Union, a surprise outcome that resulted in a spike in investor fear and a stock market sell-off that resulted in the worst two-day paper loss for global stock markets stocks ever. For the year so far, the large-company stock gauge is up 1.3%

The fear level of investors has come down sharply as financial markets around the globe have stabilized in recent days.

"The calm continues (as stocks) ... are in the process of consolidating their post-panic relief gains," David Rosenberg, chief economist and strategist at Gluskin Sheff noted via e-mail.

Still, uncertainty still abounds in global markets given the still high level of political and economic risks in the U.K. and Europe following the Brexit vote last week. Political confusion continued in Britain Thursday after ex-London Mayor Boris Johnson, a backer of the "leave" campaign in last week's Brexit vote said he would not seek the Prime Minister's job.

Market stability was visible again in the United Kingdom and Europe Thursday. The FSTE 100 stock index in London was 2.3% higher. The British pound, which had been pounded to a 31-year low vs. the U.S. dollar, was trading down about 1%.

The broad Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 1%.

Oil prices were falling. U.S. produced-crude was down almost 2% to $49.01 per barrel.

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