Recovering gold prices sent the markets soaring to a sharply higher close with the Dow jumping 157 points to 4,756. Nasdaq leaped 48 points to 3264.

On the upside

Bargain hunters lifted shares of Himax Technologies (Nasdaq: HIMX), whose stock price fell last week on a negative Seeking Alpha article.

Deutsche Bank upgraded Alaska Airlines (NYSE: ALK) to a Buy rating.

Atlantic Power (NYSE: AT) declared a monthly dividend for April 2013 of C$0.03333 payable on May 31, 2013 to shareholders of record April 30, 2013.

On the downside

Keynote (Nasdaq: KEYN) warned that second quarter earnings and revenue would fall short of expectations.

Shares of Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX), Kinross Gold (NYSE: KGC) and McEwen Mining (NYSE: MUX) continued falling even as gold prices rebounded.

Jacksonville Bancorp (Nasdaq: JAXB) stock plummeted on no news.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 4 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 7 to 2 on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index surged 22 points to 1574.