Roundup: U.S. stocks rebound strongly on Beige Book, mixed data

U.S. stocks bounced back Wednesday following the deep decline of the previous session, as Wall Street assessed Federal Reserve's Beige Book amid mixed data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 293.03 points, or 1.82 percent, to 16,351.38. The S&P 500 surged 35.01 points, or 1.83 percent, to 1,948.86. The Nasdaq Composite Index soared 113.87 points, or 2.46 percent, to 4,749.98.

According to the Beige Book released Wednesday afternoon, reports from the 12 Fed Districts indicate economic activity continued expanding across most regions and sectors during the reporting period from July to mid-August. Respondents in most sectors across Districts expected growth to continue at its recent pace.

Meanwhile, labor productivity in the U.S. nonfarm business sector increased at a 3.3-percent annual rate during the second quarter of 2015, beating market expectations of 2.8 percent, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.

U.S. private sector employment added 190,000 jobs in August from July, missing market consensus of 210,000, according to the August ADP National Employment Report released Wednesday.

The ADP figure is closely followed as a pre-indicator for the nonfarm payrolls data due out Friday. Some analysts thought that a soft ADP report could give the Federal Reserve an excuse to postpone rate hikes.

"With so much emphasis on this Friday's employment report as the last before the September Fed meeting, another ADP number below 200k will temper expectations of a big jump in August hiring. If hiring continues to trend down, it will make it harder for the Fed to justify tighter monetary conditions," said Jay Morelock, an economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

Overseas equities saw stabilization Wednesday. European shares reversed early losses to end mostly higher as investors eyed calmer global markets, with Germany's benchmark DAX index at Frankfurt Stock Exchange rising 0.32 percent.

In Asia, Chinese benchmark Shanghai Composite Index pared sharp early losses to close 0.2 percent lower Wednesday after volatile trading, while Japan's 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average erased morning gains to finish 0.39 percent lower as investors were still worried about global economy.

On Tuesday, U.S. stocks suffered big losses, with all three major indices tumbling over 2.8 percent, as a renewed broad-based sell-off around the world rattled nervous investors.

The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, fell 16.91 percent to end at 26.09 Wednesday.

In other markets, oil prices gained Wednesday despite government report showing that U.S. crude stockpiles increased last week.

The West Texas Intermediate for October delivery moved up 84 cents to settle at 46.25 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for October delivery added 94 cents to close at 50.5 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Future Exchange.

The U.S. dollar climbed against other major currencies Wednesday as the global equity markets stabilized, lowering investors' demand for safe-haven currency like Japanese yen.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1240 dollars from 1.1309 dollars in the previous session, while the dollar bought 120.23 Japanese yen, higher than 119.69 yen of the previous session.

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange dipped Wednesday, with the most active gold contract for December delivery losing 6.2 dollars, or 0.54 percent, to settle at 1,133.60 dollars per ounce. Endit