Recovering crude oil prices sent the markets soaring to a sharply higher close with the Dow rocketing 305 points to 17,666. Nasdaq surged 51 points to 4,727.

On the upside

BlackRock disclosed that is acquired a 5.4% passive stake in ITT Educational Services (NYSE: ESI).

Shares of Goodrich Petroleum (NYSE: GDP), Rex Energy (Nasdaq: REXX) and PostRock Energy (Nasdaq: PSTR) surged as crude oil prices climbed.

Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) announced a new advertising distribution program.

On the downside

Luminex (Nasdaq: LMNX) reported higher fourth quarter earnings and revenue but the company forecast current quarter and full year revenue below expectations.

M/A-Com Technology Solutions (Nasdaq: MTSI) fell to a loss for the first quarter and announced a public offering of 6.5 million common shares.

PhotoMedex (Nasdaq: PHMD) sold its LCA-Vision subsidiary to Vision Acquisition for $40 million in cash.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 4 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 2 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 soared 29 points to 2050. Bitcoin slipped $4 to $225.