Maybe the third time really is the charm as today we saw the second consecutive day of a big buying spree pushing the Dow up another 285 points now recouping almost two-thirds of the selloff from the Brexit. As one expert said today, "It's not the end of the world and it never was the end of the world."  The rebound was accompanied by a bounce in oil prices triggered by another drawdown in crude inventories.  It seems oil is still the proxy for the global economy.  Other good news included consumer spending rising for the second straight month.  Will this continue or will there be more sliding due to the Brexit?  Probably a little of both.  But for now at least the markets are a little more calm.  The buying spree was on healthy volume of 8 billion shares.

Markets | Wed Jun 29, 2016 4:25pm EDT

Wall Street rebounds from Brexit with second day of big gains

BY LEWIS KRAUSKOPF

DJ:  17,694.68  +284.96      NAS: 4,779.25  +87.38        S&P:  2,070.77  +34.68

REUTERS/BRENDAN MCDERMID

Wall Street recorded big gains for a second day on Wednesday as investors continued to scour for bargains and digest the fallout from Britain's stunning vote to leave the European Union.  The S&P 500 has recouped more than half of its losses from the two-day equities rout sparked by the British referendum, which had erased $3 trillion in value from global equity markets, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.

The S&P financial sector .SPSY, which was beaten up in the wake of the vote, gained 2.3 percent, leading all sectors.

Energy shares .SPNY jumped 2 percent, supported by higher oil prices. All 10 industry groups closed higher.

"It’s not the end of the world and it never was the end of the world, and to have these kinds of reactions was ridiculous," said Jeff Weniger, senior portfolio strategist at BMO Private Bank in Chicago.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 284.96 points, or 1.64 percent, to 17,694.68, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 34.68 points, or 1.7 percent, to 2,070.77 and the Nasdaq Composite.IXIC added 87.38 points, or 1.86 percent, to 4,779.25.  The gains marked the biggest two-day run for the S&P 500 in four months.

Wall Street's rebound in the past two days has coincided with a bounce in oil prices, which rose on Wednesday after a larger-than-expected drawdown in U.S. crude inventories.

"People are still using oil as kind of a proxy for a read on the global economy," said Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana. "If oil prices firm, that seems to be giving a little bit more breathing room that Brexit and everything else isn’t going to just tank the global economy."

Adding to the positive sentiment, U.S. consumer spending rose for a second straight month in May on increased demand for automobiles and other goods. But there are fears Brexit could hurt confidence and prompt households to cut back on consumption.

Traders have largely discounted a near-term U.S. interest rate increase, betting on only a 16-percent chance of a hike at the Federal Reserve's December meeting, according to the CME Group FedWatch website.

"The delay in expectations for any type of a rate hike is helping the overall market enjoy the prospect of a longer period of easy-money policy," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Asset Management in New York.

Investors are still bracing for volatility in coming weeks amid uncertainty about how Britain will pursue its EU exit, with some pointing to more possible downside. The S&P 500 was within 17 points of its May 2015 record high last Thursday.

Tesaro (TSRO.O) soared 108 percent to $77.40 after the company's ovarian cancer drug met its main goal. The stock was the top percentage gainer on the Nasdaq.

About 8 billion shares changed hands in U.S. exchanges, above the roughly 7.5 billion average over the past 20 sessions.

NYSE advancers outnumbered decliners by a 6.07-to-1 ratio; on the Nasdaq, a 3.78-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 48 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 41 new highs and 43 new lows.