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U.S. stocks staged a late-day comeback on Thursday, boosted by economic comeback plays as the market rebounded from a two-day losing streak.
The Dow Jones Industrials jumped 199.42 points to 32,619.48, after losing as much as 348 points.
The S&P 500 added 20.38 points to 3,909.52, wiping out a 0.9% intraday loss
The NASDAQ Composite recovered 15.79 points to 12,977.68, as some major technology stocks reserved losses. Tesla rose 1.6%, while Apple closed in the green.
Stocks that are tied to a successful economic reopening such as airlines and cruise line operators led the intraday rebound. American Airlines and United gained more than 4% each, while Norwegian Cruise Line and Carnival both rose over 2%. Boeing climbed 3.3%.
Thursday’s moves pared the major averages’ week-to-date losses. The S&P 500 and the Dow are now down less than 0.1% each after hitting their record highs last week. The NASDAQ has underperformed with a 1.8% loss so far this week.
Some investors have been taking profits in their growth winners which led the market’s rebound from the pandemic losses last year. Netflix has fallen 6.7% this month, while Tesla is down more than 5%. Pandemic winner Zoom Video has dropped nearly 16% in March.
The market weakness came as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell hinted at one day starting to remove the stimulus that has boosted the market during the pandemic.
Investors pored over a better-than-expected reading on weekly jobless claims. The U.S. Labor Department said first-time claims for unemployment insurance totaled 684,000 for the week ended March 20, lower than an estimate of 735,000 from economists surveyed by Dow Jones.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys fell, hoisting yields 1.63% from Wednesday’s 1.61%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices faded $2.72 to $58.46 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices sank eight dollars to $1,725.60.
