Stocks leap on last day of worst quarter since '11

Stocks ended sharply higher Wednesday on the last day of a brutal third quarter, but Wall Street still posted its worst quarterly performance in four years.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up about 235 points, or 1.5%. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 1.9% and the Nasdaq composite index rose 2.3%.

Despite the gains, the major indexes are still set to post steep losses for the quarter. Heading into today's session, the Dow was down 8.9% for the third quarter in its worst performance since the third quarter of 2011 when the blue-chip index tumbled 12.1%.

Wall Street enters 4Q wondering if worst is over

The S&P 500 was down 8.7% as of Tuesday's close and at the Nasdaq has 9.4% drop.

Investors saw the first 10% correction in the major stock indexes since 2011 as worries of an economic slowdown in China and angst over interest rate policy and when the Federal Reserve will hike rates has taken a toll.

Add to those woes, a meltdown in the commodities markets and growing fears that stocks have climbed to unsustainable valuations, and what you get is a really lousy market. Those worries have sparked a big selloff that has knocked more than half of the stocks in the S&P 500 down more than 20% -- which puts those stocks in bear market territory.

The rally on Wednesday was helped by encouraging news about the labor market. Businesses added 200,000 private sector jobs in September, according to a report by payroll processor ADP.

ADP: Businesses added 200,000 jobs in September

Overseas, Asian stock markets rebounded, led by gains in Japan. Japan's Nikkei 225 index surged 2.7% to close at 17,388.15 after investors were buoyed by expectations for more economic stimulus. Tuesday, the Nikkei 225 tumbled 4.1%, putting it in the red for 2015. Japan's quarterly Tankan business confidence survey due Thursday will show how businesses are feeling about the future, possibly providing a trigger for action from policymakers.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 1.4%. The Shanghai composite index gained 0.5%.

In Europe, Germany's DAX index rose 2.2, France's CAC 40 gained 2.6%, and Britain's FTSE 100 was 2.6% higher.

U.S. stocks ended mixed Tuesday as Wall Street staged a partial rebound from Monday's sharp sell-off that edged the broad U.S. market ever closer to its 2015 lows hit in late August.

Contributing: USA TODAY's Adam Shell, Associated Press