Specialist Michael McDonnell, right, works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015. Another drop in China’s currency sent global markets mostly lower on Wednesday as the move raised worries about the world’s second-largest economy, but US stocks finished mostly higher Wednesday as an afternoon rally led by Apple and energy equities overcame early weakness on fears about an economic slowdown in China. AP PHOTO/RICHARD DREW
NEW YORK–US stocks finished mostly higher Wednesday as an afternoon rally led by Apple and energy equities overcame early weakness on fears about an economic slowdown in China.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished essentially flat at 17,402.51, down about one-third of a point.
The broad-based S&P 500 added 1.98 (0.10 percent) at 2,086.05, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 7.60 (0.15 percent) to 5,044.39.
Apple, which has been mostly falling the last three weeks, rose 1.6 percent, while energy stocks like Dow member ExxonMobil (+1.7 percent), ConocoPhillips (+2.3 percent) and Apache (+3.2 percent) gained on higher oil prices.
“The market made a nice turnaround,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital. “Obviously it’s still about China.”
US stocks spent much of the day in the red due to fears that Beijing’s devaluation of the yuan signals that China’s economy is weaker than thought. The Dow was down more than 275 points early in the session.
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba tumbled 5.1 percent after reporting revenues of $3.27 billion for the quarter ending June 30, below the $3.39 billion projected by analysts. Yahoo, which has a large stake in Alibaba, fell 4.3 percent.
Department store chain Macy’s dropped 5.1 percent as it reported second-quarter earnings of 64 cents per share, well below the 76 cents expected by analysts. Results were marred by the strong US dollar.
Kraft Heinz fell 1.6 percent as it said it would trim 2,500 US and Canadian jobs following the merger of the two food giants.
Large banks declined, including Citigroup (-1.3 percent) and Dow member JPMorgan Chase and Bank of American (both -1.5 percent).
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.15 percent from 2.14 percent Tuesday, while the 30-year advanced to 2.84 percent from 2.81 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.