Stocks see day of gains after bumpy week
Technology companies and banks helped lift stocks on Wall Street broadly higher Wednesday, enabling the market to claw back some of its losses after a downbeat start to the week.
The S&P 500 rose 0.9%, snapping a two-day slide. Most of the companies in the benchmark index rose, with technology, financial and health care stocks accounting for a big share of the gains.
Tesla, Amazon and other companies that rely directly on consumer spending also rose. Communication and utilities stocks fell.
Investors continued to work through company earnings reports while keeping an eye on bond yields, which eased lower. Small-company stocks far outpaced the broader market after slumping a day earlier.
“You had small-caps really get beaten up over the last few days, but today there’s some relief, and that’s pretty much enough to support everything else, at least for today,” said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at All Star Charts. “At the end of the day, it’s still a bull market. It’s more volatile than it was last year, but the path of least resistance is still higher.”
The S&P 500 rose 38.48 points to 4,173.42. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 316.01 points, or 0.9%, to 34,137.31.
Both the S&P 500 and Dow hit all-time highs on Friday. The technologyheavy Nasdaq added 163.95 points, or 1.2%, to 13,950.22.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks, which has been outpacing the broader market all year, led the way higher, climbing 51.42 points, or 2.3%, to 2,239.63.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury held steady at 1.56%.