Stocks - Markets Rally to Claw Back Early-Week Losses

Investing.com – Stocks shot higher Thursday as China stabilized the value of the yuan and higher oil prices boosted energy stocks.

The big rally ended with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite Index recovering all of their losses in Monday's drubbing. The Dow finished about 100 points under its Friday close, but it also enjoyed its second 300-point gain in three days.

The S&P 500 finished up 1.88%. The NASDAQ jumped more than 2.2%, and the Dow added 1.43%.

The market was led by gains in technology and energy shares. But it was difficult to find losers.

All 30 Dow stocks were higher, led by chemical manufacturer Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW), Chevron (NYSE:CVX), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM).

Only four stocks in the Nasdaq 100 Index were lower, with food giant Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) the loser, down 8.6%.

Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) was the leader after introducing its new powerful EPYC data-center chip. Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) and Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google unit are already customers along with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Cray (NASDAQ:CRAY), Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL) and VMware (NYSE:VMW).

Lastly, just 20 S&P 500 stocks were lower.

Stocks may be pressured Friday by disappointing results from ride-sharing company Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER). Uber shares fell 4% after hours after reporting a $5.2 billion loss and a miss on revenue for the second quarter. Adjusted earnings of $4.72 a share were lower than the Investing.com estimate of a loss of $2.10, and revenue was $3.17 billion, compared with the estimate of 3.31 billion.

Any giddiness from the big gains on Tuesday and Thursday must also be seen in this context. The major averages hit record highs in mid-to-late July and were drifting lower even before President Donald Trump announced the U.S. would impose 10% tariffs on goods imported from China starting Sept. 1. Even with Thursday's rally, the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq remain about 3% below their July peaks. The US-China trade fight is unresolved. So, continued volatility is a probability for some time.

Chip stocks were among the leaders in the index. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 2.7%.

Interest rates ticked higher, with the US 10-Year Treasury yield moving up to 1.72% from Wednesday's 1.691%.

The 10-year yield has been falling steadily since mid-March as concerns grew around the world about slowing growth and President Trump repeatedly called on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates aggressively. The 10-year yield briefly hit a low of 1.595% on Wednesday after the U.S. opened badly, with the Dow falling nearly 600 points before stabilizing.

Oil prices moved higher after Saudi Arabia called for ideas on how to shore up the global oil market. The Saudis have been trying to get crude oil to around $70 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.8% to $52.54 as barrel. Brent crude, the global benchmark, added 2.1% to $57.38.

December Gold Futuresdropped back slightly to $1,509.50 an ounce after China held the yuan at 7.04 to the U.S. dollar. China's move seemed intended to reduce the level of tensions in the U.S.-China trade fight. Investing.com columnist Barani Krishnan thinks, however, Thursday may just have been a pause, with gold facing more upward pressure ahead.

Winners and Losers in the S&P 500

Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD), cybersecurity software company Symantec (NASDAQ:SYMC), lithium producer Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) and oil- and-gas producer Concho Resources (NYSE:CXO) were among the top S&P 500 performers Thursday.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC), CenturyLink (NYSE:CTL), pharmaceutical maker Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO) and the Fox Corp Class A (NASDAQ:FOXA) shares were among the worst performing S&P stocks on the day.

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