Wall Street closing

U.S. stocks closed higher Wednesday, as most major indexes rose more than 1 percent, pushing the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index to close at new record highs. In world economic news, European markets closed higher, as both the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX in Frankfurt rose more than 2 percent. Asian markets also ended higher, led by the Hang Seng in Hong Kong increasing 0.8 percent. In U.S. economic news, President Barack Obama unveiled his fiscal year 2014 budget proposal of $3.77 trillion. President Obama said that the proposal could shrink federal deficits and expand the U.S. economy. Meanwhile, the Labor Department's Energy Information Administration said that crude supplies grew by 300,000 barrels, or 0.1 percent, to 388.9 million barrels, which was 6.5 percent above year-ago levels. The dollar rose against the yen but declined against the euro. Light sweet crude oil for May delivery rose to $94.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures fell to $1,558.30. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 128.78, or 0.9 percent, to 14,802.24. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 19.12, or 1.2 percent, to 1,587.73. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 59.39, or 1.8 percent, to 3,297.25.