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Roundup: U.S. stocks post solid gains with global shares

Xinhua, October 1, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks ended sharply higher Wednesday, as Wall Street cheered over a strong rebound in overseas stock markets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 235.57 points, or 1.47 percent, to 16,284.70. The S&P 500 surged 35.94 points, or 1.91 percent, to 1,920.03. The Nasdaq Composite Index spiked 102.84 points, or 2.28 percent, to 4,620.17.

In Asia, Japanese stocks surged 2.70 percent Wednesday, as investors moved to reclaim Tuesday's steep losses amid speculation that a surprise downturn in Japanese industrial production may push the Bank of Japan closer to further monetary easing.

Chinese shares closed higher Wednesday, the last trading day before the country's seven-day National Day holiday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 0.48 percent.

European equities soared Wednesday following a positive lead from Asia overnight, with French benchmark index CAC 40 leaping 2.57 percent, as the stabilization in commodities soothed anxious investors.

Some analysts suggested the global rally was likely due to traders chasing momentum stocks.

On the economic front, U.S. private sector employment added 200,000 jobs from August to September, beating market consensus of 190,000, according to the September ADP National Employment Report released Wednesday.

The ADP figure is watched closely as a pre-indicator for the nonfarm payrolls report due Friday.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Business Barometer declined 5.7 points to 48.7 in September, well below market estimates, according to the ISM-Chicago Business Survey Wednesday.

"There is little doubt an emerging market recession and strong dollar have hurt manufacturing. Volatility and even outright weakness in manufacturing activity may be inescapable," chief economist at FTN Financial Chris Low said in a note.

Despite Wednesday's rally, the three major indices still saw big losses for the volatile month, with the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq falling 1.5 percent, 2.6 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively.

The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, fell 8.68 percent to end at 24.50 Wednesday.

In other markets, oil prices wavered Wednesday as U.S. crude data came in mixed.

The West Texas Intermediate for November delivery moved down 14 cents to settle at 45.09 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for November delivery increased 14 cents to close at 48.37 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Future Exchange.

The U.S. dollar rose against euro as job data of the country came in better than expected.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1175 dollars from 1.1258 dollars in the previous session, while the dollar bought 119.90 Japanese yen, higher than 119.63 yen of the previous session.

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell Wednesday for a fourth straight session, as the U.S. dollar and global stocks regained their footing.

The most active gold contract for December delivery lost 11.6 dollars, or 1.03 percent, to settle at 1,115.2 dollars per ounce. Endit