Bank of America, Microsoft: Dow Midday Movers

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. stocks finished Tuesday sharply higher as expectations of forthcoming additional stimulus from the Federal Reserve trumped ongoing worries about the stability of the eurozone.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 95 points, or 0.75%, to close at 12,837. The S&P 500 gained 13 points, or 0.98%, to finish at 1358 and the Nasdaq Composite jumped more than 34 points, or 1.2%, to settle at roughly 2930.

Breadth within the Dow was positive with 23 of the index's 30 components posting gains.

The biggest percentage gainers among the blue chips were Bank of America(BAC) , Microsoft(MSFT) , Alcoa(AA) and Caterpillar(CAT) .

Shares of Bank of America gained 4.51% to $8.11. On Tuesday, Reuters reported that Swiss banking group Julius Baer is in talks to purchase of Merrill Lynch's non-U.S. wealth management division, which is valued at about $2 billion, from Bank of America.

B of A shares are up nearly 46% so far in 2012.

Microsoft shares rose 2.88% to close at $30.70 as Wall Street gave a warm reception to the company's new Surface tablet.

The stock has risen 18.26% year to date.

Shares of Caterpillar gained 2.42% to $88.84. The stock has fallen 1.94% year to date.

Alcoa shares rose 2.42% to $8.90. The stock has increased 2.89% year to date.

--Written by Alexandra Zendrian in New York.

>To contact the writer of this article, click here: Alexandra Zendrian

>To submit a news tip, send an email to: tips@thestreet.com.

>To follow the writer on Twitter, go to Alexandra Zendrian.