Wall Street surges again in broad rally

Investors look for signals Fed might pull back on rate hikes

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed more than 800 points, and the S&P 500 had its best day in more than two years Tuesday, as the market clawed back more of the ground it lost in a miserable several weeks on Wall Street.

The S&P 500 rose 3.1 percent, its best day since May 2020, as all but six of the stocks in the index notched gains. The benchmark index has been rallying since hitting its lowest point of the year on Friday to close out a September slump.

The Dow rose 2.8 percent, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 3.3 percent. Small-company stocks also made solid gains, lifting the Russell 2000 3.9 percent higher. European and Asian markets also rose broadly.

The two-day rally hit markets as investors look for signs that central banks might ease up on their aggressive rate hikes aimed at taming the hottest inflation in four decades.

Australia’s central bank made an interest rate hike that was smaller than previous ones, and that helped Australia’s market jump

3.8 percent.

In the U.S., a government report on job openings showed the number of available jobs in the U.S. plummeted in August compared with July. It’s a sign that businesses may pull back further on hiring and potentially cool chronically high inflation, which could allow the Federal Reserve to slow the pace of rate increases.

Analysts sought to downplay the early October rally, which followed a decline of more than 9 percent last month. The major indexes remain in a bear market after falling 20 percent or more from their most recent record highs.

“Wild moves like these can be hard to digest, but they aren’t surprising,” said Lindsey Bell, chief markets and money strategist at Ally. “It is natural for some of the biggest up days in the market to cluster around the biggest down days.”

The S&P 500 rose 112.50 points to 3,790.93, while the Dow gained 825.43 points to close at 30,316.32. The Nasdaq rose 360.97 points to 11,176.41 and the Russell 2000 added 66.90 points at 1,775.77.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 3.64 percent from 3.65 percent late Monday. It got as high as 4 percent last week after starting the year at just

1.51 percent.

The yield on the two-year Treasury fell to 4.10 percent from 4.12 percent late Monday.