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New York - US stocks surged Wednesday, snapping a six-day losing streak prompted by a big pullback in Chinese equities that has roiled global markets.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 3.95% to 16 285.51 points, while the broad-based S&P 500 gained 3.90% t0 1 940.51 and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index bolted up 4.24% to 4 697.54 points.
All 30 members of the Dow rose, led by Merck with 6.4%. Several other companies rose more than 5%, including Apple, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, Nike, Visa and ExxonMobil.
US stocks opened sharply higher for the second straight day. However, unlike on Tuesday, when a late-afternoon slump pushed the market into the red, US stocks picked up momentum in the afternoon and closed near session highs.
"The market has found its legs," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial. "I couldn't tell you that the low is in place, but I am very comfortable putting my own money to work."
The S&P 500 shed more than 11% of its value in the prior six sessions as worries about the slowing Chinese economy prompted a global sell-off that included an estimated $2.7 trillion in losses on Monday alone.
Other major markets were mixed on Wednesday, with China's benchmark stock index down 1.27%, Japan's Nikkei advancing 3.20% and indices in Britain, France and Germany falling by more than 1%.
Oilfield equipment maker Cameron International surged 41.1% on news it would be acquired by oil services giant Schlumberger for $14.8bn. Schlumberger fell 3.4%.
Drilling company Transocean tumbled 4.9% after announcing it would suspend its dividend for the next two quarters and that it expects charges of about $2.1bn due to the oil-industry downturn.
US shares of Swiss pesticides giant Syngenta slumped 13.6% after Monsanto dropped its campaign to buy the company following rejections. Monsanto jumped 8.6%.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.18% from 2.09% on Tuesday, while the 30-year advanced to 2.94% from 2.82%. Bond prices and yields move inversely.
The retreat in bond prices came amid speculation that China has been selling US treasuries, a possibility raised on Twitter by prominent bond investor Bill Gross of Janus Capital.
