U.S. stocks up on bargains

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday, as bargain hunting lifted technology shares and energy shares rose with higher crude oil prices, while European markets fell on fears about a deep global recession.

A new string of weak U.S. weak economic data drove up safe-haven buying in U.S. government bonds and lifted the dollar against the euro.

U.S. durable goods orders plummeted in October and business activity in the Midwest withered to the lowest level since the severe 1982 recession. In addition, sales of newly built U.S. homes dropped sharply in October and were running on levels last seen more than 17 years ago.

"The weak economic data serves as a harsh reminder of the problems plaguing the U.S. economy," said Kathy Lien, director of currency research at GFT Forex in New York.

"Overall, the U.S. numbers this morning all have a negative tone to them and that should keep risk aversion higher," said Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at TD Securities in Toronto.

The European Commission on Wednesday proposed a 200 billion euro (170 billion pound) stimulus package aimed at giving the floundering economy a boost, following the U.S. Federal Reserve's $800 billion (521 billion pounds) effort to bolster credit and mortgage markets unveiled on Tuesday.

China also cut interest rates by 108 basis points, a move aimed at ensuring liquidity in the banking system and supporting economic growth.

But positive reaction to the financial resuscitation efforts and stocks at multi-year lows battled with concern about the bottom-line impact on government balance sheets.

In U.S. equities markets, the Nasdaq rose more than 2 percent, outpacing gains in the other major indexes, as bargain hunters bought shares of big-cap technology companies after Tuesday's sell-off.