U.S. stocks finished strong today, led by clothing retailer JC Penney Co. (NYSE: JCP), Sealed Air Corp. (NYSE: SEE) and International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM).

The strong showing precedes the FOMC statement tomorrow afternoon as well as President Obama’s State of the Union address tomorrow night.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 108.68 points, or 0.92 percent, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.58 percent. Nasdaq surged 1.02 percent.

The 10-year bond yield finished down slightly, while oil dropped 1.34 percent on news that OPEC will increase oil production. The price of gold increased slightly.

A positive review by Barron’s of Nvidia Corp. (Nasdaq: NVDA) helped propel its share price by 2.51 points, or 11.3 percent, while a positive outlook by economists on industrial materials helped push Sealed Air Corp. stock by 5.42 percent and Vulcan Materials Co. (NYSE: VMC) stock by 3.73 percent.

IBM’s stock rose 2.66 percent, while Intel Corp. led tech stocks, as its shares rose 2.02 percent.

JC Penney’s stock surged by 7.19 percent as the company announcement a restructuring.

RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) could not overcome the announcement of the retirement of its CEO during the day, as its stock finished the day down 11.3 percent.

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