Dow spikes 274 points in best day of 2014

The Dow Jones industrial average posted its strongest gain in 2014 on Wednesday, closing up 274 points.

The blue-chip stock index spiked Wednesday afternoon, and the S&P 500 and NASDAQ both also experienced their biggest one-day increases of the year, climbing 1.75 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively.

{mosads}The surge came after the Federal Reserve released a meeting summary that underlined the central bank’s commitment to not raise interest rates too quickly, in part due to concerns about the global economy.

The summary underlined that the Fed is keeping a close eye on developments abroad, and that concern could slow the central bank’s move to raise interest rates for the first time since the financial crisis.

Financial markets have been increasingly volatile recently. One day before the 274-point gain, the Dow posted a 276-point loss.