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Stocks finished the final trading day of a weak second quarter with a huge bang as Wall Street cheered a surprise agreement by EU leaders to help the region's struggling banks.
Defying expectations for a "June swoon," the Dow logged its best June gain since 1997, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted their strongest since 1999 and 2000, respectively.
“June is usually the second worst month for the market next to September, but this time was a bit of a fluke," said Art Cashin, director of floor operations at UBS Financial Services. (Read More: Four Good Reasons Not to Trust Today's Rally )
Still, all three major indexes posted significant losses for the quarter.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged more than 2 percent for the session, led by BofA and Cisco . The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also soared to post their best trading day in 2012.
The CBOE Volatility Index, widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, plunged more than 10 percent to close near 17, hitting a two-month low.
For the month, the Dow rallied 3.93 percent, the S&P jumped 3.96 percent, and the Nasdaq advanced 5.06 percent. BofA was the best performer on the Dow in June, while H-P lagged.
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