New York ? Wall Street shot higher as U.S.-led forces closed in on Baghdad Wednesday, boosting investor optimism that the two-week-old war with Iraq might soon end. The Dow Jones industrials soared 215 points to their best performance in nearly two weeks.

Tech shares surged, led in part by a positive outlook from Biogen, while airline stocks gained on approval from House and Senate appropriations committees of about $3 billion in federal aid.

“The march to Baghdad is really driving the markets higher,” said Chris Wolfe, equity market strategist for J.P. Morgan Private Bank. “This (market) move emphasizes that we have a lot of cash on the sidelines ready to be put to work.”

“As we hear more rumors of Saddam being dead, that will come to permeate into investors’ thinking, bringing them closer to the thought that this is a war that is shorter in nature,” Wolfe added.

The Dow closed up 215.20, or 2.7 percent, at 8,285.06, having gained 77 points Tuesday to snap a four-day losing streak. It was the largest advance since March 21, when blue-chip stocks closed 235 points higher.

The broader market, meanwhile, posted the0 sharpest gains since March 17.

Investors shrugged off a Commerce Department report Wednesday showing U.S. factory orders declining by 1.5 percent in February, the largest drop in five months. The reading came after orders went up 1.7 percent in January.

Biogen climbed $3.70 to $33.99 after the biotech company raised its first-quarter earnings outlook, citing strong interest in its psoriasis drug. Other tech shares also gained, including Dow components Intel, which rose $1.10 to $17.52, and Microsoft, which increased $1.37 to $25.72.

Traders watch the numbers from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Wall Street moved sharply higher as U.S.-led forces closed in on Baghdad Wednesday. The Dow Jones industrials rose more than 220 points.