WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks moved sharply lower early in the session on Wednesday but showed a substantial turnaround over the course of the trading day. The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the recovery, with all of the major averages ending the day in positive territory.
After tumbling by as much as 1.4 percent in early trading, the Nasdaq surged 369.65 points or 2.2 percent to 17,395.53. The S&P 500 also jumped 58.61 points or 1.1 percent to 5,554.13, while the Dow rose 124.75 points or 0.3 percent to 40861.71 after hitting its lowest intraday level in almost a month.
The early sell-off on Wall Street came following the release of the Labor Department's closely watched report on consumer price inflation in the month of August.
While the report showed consumer prices increased in line with economist estimates, core consumer prices rose by slightly more than expected.
The Labor Department said its consumer price index rose by 0.2 percent in August, matching the uptick seen in July as well as economist estimates.
Meanwhile, core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, climbed by 0.3 percent in August after rising by 0.2 percent in July. Economists had expected core prices to rise by another 0.2 percent.
Stocks moved sharply lower as the data seemingly reduced the chances of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by 50 basis points next week.
Selling pressure waned dramatically over the course session, however, as the Fed is still expected to continue lowering interest rates in the coming months.
CME Group's FedWatch Tool suggests the chances of a half-point rate cut next week have fallen following the release of the report, but it still points to rates being at least a full percentage point lower by the end of the year.
'Given the stickiness of services inflation, the Fed will likely cut by 25 basis points in the upcoming meeting and reserve the potential for more aggressive action later this year if we have further deterioration in the job market,' said Jeffrey Roach, Chief Economist for LPL Financial.
Sector News
Semiconductor stocks helped lead the turnaround on Wall Street, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index spiking by 4.9 percent. Market leader and AI darling Nvidia (NVDA) turned in one of the sector's best performances, soaring by 8.0 percent.
Significant strength also emerged among networking, software and computer hardware stocks, contributing to the surge by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
Steel and retail stocks also showed strong moves to the upside over the course of the session, while weakness remained visible among oil producer stocks despite a rebound by the price of crude oil.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index tumbled by 1.5 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index slid by 0.8 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index rose by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index dipped by 0.2 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries fluctuated over the course of the session before closing roughly flat. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, crept up by less than a basis point to 3.653 percent.
Looking Ahead
Trading on Thursday may be impacted by reaction to separate Labor Department reports on producer price inflation and weekly jobless claims.
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