NEW YORK, New York - Strong earnings from technology and health companies, including PayPal and CVS Health Corp drove stock prices higher on Wednesday.

"We're going through Q2 earnings and, by and large, from the tech complex to consumer discretionary and industrials, we're seeing a lot of better-than-feared prints, and that's just good enough right now," Sahak Manuelian, managing director of trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles told Reuters Wednesday.

The technology sector took center stage Wednesday with the Nasdaq Composite zooming up 319.40 points or 2.59 percent to 12,668.16.

The Dow Jones industrials garnered 416.33 points or 1.29 percent to close Wednesday at 32,812.50.

The Standard and Poor's 500 gained 63.97 points or 1.56 percent to 4,155.16.

The U.S. dollar was mixed. The euro was last quoted before the New York close Wednesday at 1.0171. The British pound dipped slightly to 1.3152. The Swiss franc declined to 0.9608. The Japanese yen dropped to 133.95.

The Canadian dollar was little changed at 1.2840. The Australian dollar firmed to 0.6951. The New Zealand dollar rose to 0.6278.

In London, the FTSE 100 gained 0.49 percent. The German Dax added 1.03 percent. The Paris-based CAC 40 climbed 0.97 percent.

China's Shanghai Composite fell 22.59 points or 0.71 percent to 3,163.67.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 147.17 points or 0.53 percent to 27,741.90.

The S&P/NZX 50 in New Zealand surged 172.57 points or 1.50 percent to 11,705.03.

The South Korean Kospi Composite added 21.83 points or 0.89 percent to 2,461.45.

In Australia, the ALL Ordinaries retreated 13.50 points or 0.19 percent to 7,202.90.

In Hong Kong the Hang Seng advanced 63.77 points or 0.40 percent to 19,767.09.