Stocks and oil make slight rebound

The Dow Jones industrials gained almost 200points, and the Nasdaq saw an increase of 2.3%.

Stocks closed with gains on Wall Street on Thursday after shaking off a rocky start.

The trading was still bumpy but nothing like the wild swings seen in recent weeks. The Dow Jones industrials gained almost 200 points, or 1%. But the Nasdaq saw an increase of 2.3% as bargain hunters picked up stocks.

Investors were cautiously optimistic after seeing more steps by the Federal Reserve and other central banks as well as governments to support credit markets and the economy. Still, the devastating impact of the coronavirus outbreak is starting to show itself in economic data.

The price of crude oil rebounded sharply after plummeting a day earlier. However, it remained at about $25 a barrel. Americans should soon see significant price decreases.

Markets have been so volatile because investors are weighing the increasing likelihood of a recession on one hand against huge, emergency efforts to prop up the economy on the other. Markets got more of each on Thursday.

But the world’s largest central banks announced their latest efforts to support financial markets and the economy. The European Central Bank launched an expanded program to buy up to $820 billion in bonds to support the economy, and the Bank of England cut its key interest rate to a record low of 0.1%.

The Federal Reserve unveiled measures to support money-market funds and the borrowing of dollars as investors in markets worldwide hurry to build up dollars and cash. The dash for cash has strained markets, and sellers of even high-quality bonds say they’re having difficulty finding buyers at reasonable prices for how much they want to sell. Many of the Fed’s moves, which are getting revived after being used in the 2008 financial crisis, are aimed at smoothing out operations in such markets.

“Every day there’s another announcement of what the stimulus is going to look like, but what seems to be apparent is the recognition of some in the administration that funding is going to have to be larger, more significant than initially expected,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. “And that they are prepared to do whatever it takes to cushion the downside of what is increasingly looking like an impending recession.”

Investors also appeared encouraged by reports that China is set to ramp up stimulus spending after the province where the virus first emerged showed no new infections on Wednesday. That likely helped boost the price of U.S. crude oil by almost 24% Thursday, nearly making up all of its losses from the day before, Krosby said, noting that China is one of the world’s biggest oil importers.

Still, the market will likely remain volatile until investors see more economic data that shows just how badly the outbreak is hurting the economy.

“They’re doing what they can, and I’m not sure what else they can do,” said Sal Bruno, chief investment officer at IndexIQ.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 200 points, or 1%, to 20,099 as of 3:19 p.m. Eastern time. It had been down as much as 721 points earlier and as high as 543. The Nasdaq, which is dominated by tech giants like Apple, was up 3.8%.