WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks extended Wednesday's slump in early trading on Thursday but showed a considerable turnaround over the course of the session. The major averages all moved to the upside as the day progressed, with the Dow jumping to its best closing level in a month.
The Dow shot up 556.21 points or 1.1 percent to 52,177.69 amid strong gains Nike (NKE), Salesforce (CRM) and Home Depot (HD).
The S&P 500 also rose 25.12 points or 0.3 percent to 7,744.06, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq spent most of the day in negative territory but managed to end the day up 20.16 points or 0.1 percent at 26,713.03.
The early weakness on Wall Street came as tech stocks saw further downside following yesterday's sell-off amid renewed concerns about the outlook for the artificial intelligence trade.
The initial slump by tech stocks dragged the Nasdaq down to its lowest intraday level in almost a month, which may have inspired some bargain hunting.
The subsequent recovery also came amid a steep drop in treasury yields, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note tumbling to a three-week low.
Yields moved sharply lower despite the release of a report from the Labor Department showing producer prices in the U.S. shot up by much more than expected in the month of September.
The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand jumped by 1.3 in September after rising by an upwardly revised 0.5 percent in August. Economists had expected producer prices to climb by 0.5 percent.
The report also said the annual rate of growth by producer prices surged to 6.3 percent in September from an upwardly revised 5.6 percent in August, coming in well above expectations.
Despite the hotter-than-expected inflation data released over the past two days, CME Group's FedWatch Tool suggests the Federal Reserve is still likely to leave rates unchanged later this month.
Sector News
Gold stocks moved sharply higher along with the price of the precious metal, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index spiking by 4.7 percent after ending the previous session at its lowest closing level in over two months.
Substantial strength was also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 3.8 percent surge by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. The index ended Wednesday's trading at a six-month closing low.
Housing stocks also showed a significant rebound following recent weakness, driving the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index up by 3.6 percent.
Biotechnology, healthcare and pharmaceutical stocks also saw considerable strength, while computer hardware stocks saw further downside.
Reflecting the weakness in the sector, the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index plunged by 2.5 percent to its lowest closing level in well over a month.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved notably lower on Thursday. South Korea's Kospi plummeted by 7.6 percent, Japan's Nikkei 225 Index tumbled by 4.9 percent and China's Shanghai Composite Index slumped by 1.6 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.8 percent and the German DAX Index rose by 0.3 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have moved sharply higher, extending the upward move seen over the course of the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, has plunged 9.7 basis points to 5.093 percent.
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