1st LD: U.S. stocks close higher for fourth day

NEW YORK, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks ended higher on Wednesday, notching a four-day winning streak.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 253.04 points, or 1.03 percent, to 24,893.49. The S&P 500 increased 35.69 points, or 1.34 percent, to 2,698.63. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 130.10 points, or 1.86 percent, to 7,143.62.

For Chinese companies listed in the United States, shares of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba soared 4.19 percent to settle at 186.76 U.S. dollars, while shares of another Chinese technology company Baidu surged 4.56 percent to close at 235.89 U.S. dollars.

U.S. equities opened lower on Wednesday following the release of stronger-than-expected inflation report.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.5 percent in January on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Labor Department said on Wednesday. Over the last 12 months, the all items index rose 2.1 percent.

Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the core consumer prices gained 0.3 percent in January. In the 12 months through January, the core CPI increased 1.8 percent.

Analysts said the string of data all beat market expectations and thus rekindled concerns of surging inflation, which had helped to send the U.S. equities plunging to two-year lows last week.

Investors worried that strong rise in inflation would make the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates as many as three times later this year.

Market expectations for a rate-hike move in December are now at nearly 62 percent, up from 50 percent the day before, according to the CME's FedWatch tool. Enditem