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US markets rebound day after big plunge

September 2, 2015
Specialist Jay Woods, right, works with trader John Bishop on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015. U.S. and global stock markets were recovering in early morning trading Wednesday after a sharp sell-off a day earlier. Still, investors remain on edge after a plunge in stocks Tuesday that was triggered by reports showing slowing growth in China. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Specialist Jay Woods, right, works with trader John Bishop on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015. U.S. and global stock markets were recovering in early morning trading Wednesday after a sharp sell-off a day earlier. Still, investors remain on edge after a plunge in stocks Tuesday that was triggered by reports showing slowing growth in China. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rebounded in early afternoon trading Wednesday after a sharp sell-off a day earlier. Investors remain on edge after the latest market plunge, which was triggered by more signs of slowing growth in China. Oil prices continued to swing sharply.

KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average rose 199 points, or 1.2 percent, to 16,255 as of 1:50 p.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index climbed 21 points, or 1.1 percent, to 1,934 and the Nasdaq composite gained 66 points, or 1.4 percent, to 4,702.

The gains follow a volatile Tuesday on Wall Street, where the Dow fell 470 points in a heavy trading.

THE QUOTE: “Investors should expect more volatility to come in this market,” said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist for Janney Montgomery Scott. “The market needs to work through this correction, and that could take weeks, or maybe months.”

CHINA TRADING: China remains in focus across financial markets. The Shanghai composite index opened more than 4 percent lower, but turned positive by midday and eventually ended the day down only 0.2 percent. The volatile trading led some analysts to suspect Beijing was intervening to support share prices before a two-day holiday.

JOBS, JOBS, JOBS: A private survey showed that U.S. businesses added jobs at a steady pace last month, with construction and manufacturing showing solid gains. The payroll processor ADP said businesses added 190,000 jobs last month, up from 177,000 in July, but below a six-month high set in June of 231,000.

The ADP report comes two days before Friday’s August jobs report. Economists are forecasting that U.S. employers created 220,000 jobs in August, and that the unemployment rate fell to 5.2 percent.

It will be the last jobs report Federal Reserve policymakers have before their next policy meeting later this month. Some economists expect the Fed to raise interest rates for the first time in close to a decade after the meeting.

ASIAN AND EUROPE SCORECARD: Tracking Chinese shares, Asian benchmarks swung between gains and losses. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng sank 1.2 percent. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.4 percent.

Europe closed modestly higher. Germany’s DAX rose 0.3 percent, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.3 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 rose 0.4 percent.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 41 cents to $45.79 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent Crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many U.S. refineries, rose 8 cents to $49.61 a barrel in London.

Oil prices have swung wildly the last several days, and Wednesday was no exception. While oil was up modestly in afternoon trading, it had been down as much as 4 percent earlier in the day.

BONDS AND CURRENCIES: U.S. government bond prices fell, pushing the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note up to 2.17 percent from 2.15 percent on Tuesday.

The euro was 0.5 percent lower at $1.1244, a day ahead of the European Central Bank’s latest policy meeting. The dollar rose 0.3 percent to 120 yen.

METALS: The price of gold edged down $6.20 to $1,133.60 an ounce, silver slipped five cents to $14.66 an ounce and copper rose three cents to $2.33 a pound.