A look at highlights from the day's business news:

Stocks end higher after Obama speech
 
Stocks ended Wednesday higher as investors shifted their focus from worries about European banks to President Obama's $350 billion jobs recovery plan.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 47 points, or 0.45 percent, to 10,387 the S&P 500 gained 7 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,099 and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 20 points, or 0.9 percent, to 2,229 according to early tallies.

Stocks are coming off losses Tuesday, when all three major indexes fell more than 1 percent as investors worried that European banks are in worse shape than previously believed.

But those fears subsided a bit Wednesday morning after the Portuguese debt auction was met with healthy demand. Experts caution that concern about Europe's banks may have eased but the problems are far from disappearing.

Also Wednesday, President Obama unveiled three new proposals aimed at bolstering the shaky economic recovery, including an estimated $200 billion in tax breaks for businesses that invest in new plants and equipment and a $100 billion extension of the business tax credit for research and development.

Treasury prices swing wildly on double-dip fears 
 
The bond market is moving at the slightest provocation as economic reports and expert opinions offer varying views on whether the country is headed for recovery or a double-dip recession.

"We're at an inflection point, and Treasurys are the needle that's swinging back and forth in this mixed picture," said Bill Larkin, portfolio manager at Cabot Money Management.

Bond prices have soared this summer on concerns about a double-dip recession, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note falling as low as 2.47 percent last month from 3 percent at the end of July.

Downbeat economic data tend to send bond prices higher, as they're considered safe-haven investments. But August brought a flurry of corporate acquisition activity and slightly better jobs data, Larkin noted, and prices have fallen in the beginning of September.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year note rose to 2.63% in afternoon trade Wednesday, up from 2.6 percent Tuesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The yield on the 5-year note jumped to 1.45 percent, the 30-year bond increased to 3.72 percent and the 2-year note ticked up to 0.52 percent.

- CNNMoney.com reporters Annalyn Censky and Julianne Pepitone contributed to this report.