Stocks mostly fell in another day of wobbly trading on Wall Street Wednesday, as markets eased off the accelerator following their big rally.
The S&P 500 …
Stocks mostly fell in another day of wobbly trading on Wall Street Wednesday, as markets eased off the accelerator following their big rally.
The S&P 500 dipped 0.4% to break a three-day winning streak, after bouncing between small gains and losses for much of the day. Stocks in Asia and Europe made modest gains, while Treasury yields edged lower.
Markets have been trending upward this week amid hopes that the worst of the recession may have already passed, and a worldwide rally on Tuesday carried the S&P 500 back to within 8% of its record. But rising levels of coronavirus infections in several hotspots around the world is also raising concerns that all the improvements could get upended.
The S&P 500 fell 11.25 points to 3,113.49, with roughly seven out of every 10 stocks in the index down. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 170.37, or 0.6%, to 26,119.61.
The Nasdaq composite was an outlier and rose 14.66, or 0.1%, to 9,910.53.
Many professional investors have been warning that the S&P 500’s big rally of nearly 40% since late March has been overdone and that volatility is likely the market’s only certainty in upcoming months.
The market began its turnaround following a nearly 34% sell-off in February and March after the Federal Reserve promised massive amounts of aid for the economy. The central bank’s chair told Congress Wednesday that it’s willing to keep interest rates at nearly zero and maintain its emergency lending programs.
But even though recent reports have also shown improvements in U.
