NEW YORK — Global stock indexes jumped Wednesday to reverse some of their big losses from the week before. In the U.S., technology companies rallied and energy companies rose along with crude oil prices. Health care and industrial companies also jumped, while safer, high-dividend stocks like utilities and household goods makers were little changed.
KEEPING SCORE: The S&P 500 index rose 31 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 2,668 at 10:10 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 271 points, or 1.1 per cent, to 24,641. The Nasdaq composite jumped 110 points, or 1.6 per cent, to 7,142. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks added 19 points, or 1.4 per cent, to 1,460.
Stocks have gyrated this week after they took steep losses at the end of the week before. The repeated changes in direction reflect investors’ nervousness about the health of the global economy, as economic growth is expected to slow down in 2019 and the U.S.-China trade dispute and rising interest rates could both make that slowdown more painful.
EARLY LEADERS: Among technology companies, Microsoft rallied 2 per cent to $110.79 and Apple added 1.3 per cent to $170.87. Amazon gained 2.3 per cent to $1,681 and Netflix jumped 3.6 per cent to $274.89 as internet and media companies joined in the gains.
Among industrials, Caterpillar climbed 2.5 per cent to $126.27 and Boeing rose 1.4 per cent to $326.50. Equipment rental company United Rentals surged 7.8 per cent to $109.76 after it gave strong forecasts for 2019 and said it will start buying back more stock this month. The company said it stopped buying its own stock at the beginning of November following an acquisition.
TURMOIL IN BRITAIN: British legislators forced a no-confidence vote in Prime Minister Theresa May. The vote is scheduled for later Wednesday and could end May’s tenure and bring even more chaos into British politics. Lawmakers within the Conservative Party have expressed frustrations with May over her negotiations of Britain’s departure from the European Union, and many of them want a cleaner break from the trading bloc. Opposition lawmakers don’t want Britain to leave the EU.
The uncertainty has knocked the British pound sharply lower in recent days, but it rose Wednesday to $1.2622 from $1.2527. The British FTSE 100 stock index added 1.1 per cent.
INFLATION WATCH: U.S. consumer prices were unchanged in November, according to the Labor Department. Prices had edged up over the previous seven months. Core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, rose 0.2 per cent in November and is up 2.2 per cent over the last year. However energy prices fell sharply as the price of crude oil plunged more than 20 per cent in November.
OVERSEAS: The CAC 40 in France surged 2 per cent and Germany’s DAX rose 1.3 per cent. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 2.2 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.4 per cent. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 1.6 per cent.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude oil added 0.7 per cent to $52.02 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 1.5 per cent to $61.08 per barrel in London.
BONDS: Bond prices slipped. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.89 per cent from 2.88 per cent.
CURRENCIES: The dollar dipped to 113.29 yen from 113.40 yen. The euro rose to $1.1361 from $1.1325.
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AP Markets Writer Marley Jay can be reached at http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP
Marley Jay, The Associated Press
