The Associated Press Published 11:10 a.m. ET Aug. 15, 2019 | Updated 4:33 p.m. ET Aug. 15, 2019
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Stocks ended another roller-coaster day mostly higher on Wall Street, making up just a fraction of the ground they lost in a huge plunge the day before.
The S&P 500 rose 6 points, or 0.2%, to 2,847. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 99, or 0.4%, to 25,579. The Nasdaq slipped 7, or 0.1% to 7,766.
Stocks in Asia and Europe started the latest wave of selling early Thursday after China said it would take “necessary countermeasures” if President Donald Trump follows through on a threat to impose tariffs on more than $100 billion of Chinese goods on Sept. 1.
The U.S. bond market, which has been among the loudest and earliest to cry out warnings about the economy, also continued to show concern as yields fell.
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Markets around the world have jerked up and down for weeks. Prices for everything from stocks to gold to oil have been heaving as investors flail from one moment of uncertainty around Trump’s trade war to another around what central banks will do with interest rates.
In the U.S., Walmart was a standout Thursday, putting up a 6.1% gain after turning in solid results and raising its outlook for the year. Consumer products makers were also winners. Kellogg added 3.2% and Procter & Gamble rose 1.4%.
A separate government report also showed that retail sales across the country last month rose more than economists expected.
Consumer spending makes up the bulk of the U.S. economy, and shoppers have been carrying the economy recently amid worries that businesses will pull back on their spending due to all the uncertainty created by the trade war. Other economies are slowing as the trade war is doing damage to manufacturers around the world.
Those concerns helped drive the yield on the 10-year Treasury down to 1.50% Thursday from 1.58% late Wednesday. That yield has been steadily dropping since late last year, when it was above 3%.
The 10-year yield has sunk so much that it dropped below the yield of the two-year Treasury Wednesday, a rare occurrence and one that has historically suggested a recession may be a year or two away.
The 30-year Treasury yield fell to 1.94% from 2.02% and earlier touched a record low, a sign of concern among investors. When worried about weaker economic growth and inflation, they tend to pile into Treasurys, which pushes up their prices and in turn pushes down yields.
“The countdown to a recession has just started,” said Hussein Sayed, Chief Market Strategist at FXTM.
Trump again defended his trade war Thursday and said a resolution with China has “got to be a deal, frankly, on our terms.”
After being hopeful earlier this year that a trade agreement may be imminent between the world’s two largest economies, investors are increasingly digging in for the tensions to drag on for years.
The trade war isn’t the only worry for investors. The United Kingdom’s pending exit from the European Union, political unrest in Hong Kong and a totally separate trade war between South Korea and Japan are all adding to the gloom.
In Europe, Germany’s DAX sank 0.7%, while France’s CAC 40 lost 0.3%. The FTSE 100 in London dropped 1.1%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.2%, and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong rose 0.8%.
Commodity prices, which have been swinging sharply on worries that a weaker global economy will dent demand, were lower. Benchmark U.S. crude fell $1.14 to $54.09 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost $1.58 to $57.90.
Gold, which has rallied when worries about the economy have grown, added $9.40 to $1,537.20 per ounce.
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