U.S. stocks climbed on Wednesday, recouping the losses from the previous session, as investors once again made bets on a strong economic recovery from the pandemic.
The Dow Jones Industrials recovered 297.01 points as morning became afternoon to 32,720.16, as Caterpillar jumped more than 3%.
The S&P 500 regained 22.28 points 3,932.80, boosted by energy and industrials.
The NASDAQ Composite fell, however, 24.3 points, to 13,203.40.
Classic reopening trades like cruise lines and airlines rebounded after a steep selloff in the previous session. Shares of American Airlines and United Airlines were higher by more than 3%. Carnival popped 5%, while Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean gained 3% each.
Shares of Intel rose slightly after the chip giant unveiled plans for a comeback, saying it was opening two new factories to manufacture its own chips and ones for other companies.
The market suffered a broad selloff on Tuesday amid concern about rising new coronavirus infections in the U.S. and abroad.
Many regions of the world are indeed seeing rising COVID-19 cases as highly contagious variants continue to spread, the World Health Organization said. Germany and France are extending or enforcing new lockdown measures.
But the pace of vaccinations in the U.S. is picking up with nearly one in five adults now fully vaccinated.
On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will continue their testimony to the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services. In the first joint appearance Tuesday, the pair acknowledged the richly valued asset prices in the markets, but said that they are not concerned about financial stability.
Powell said that the economic recovery from the pandemic had “progressed more quickly than generally expected and looks to be strengthening.”
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys faded, raising yields to 1.64% from Tuesday’s 1.62%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $2.67 to $60.43 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices increased $4.30 to $1,729.40.