Oct. 6 (UPI) — U.S. stocks closed in the green on Wednesday, reversing earlier gains amid optimism Congress will reach a debt limit extension deal.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 102.32 points, or 0.3%, after falling 459 points earlier in the session, while the S&P 500 rose 0.41% after declining 1.27% at its session low and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.47%, up from a session low of 1.2%.
Markets reversed course from earlier losses after Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he would support an extension of the debt limit into December.
Investors purchased dips in tech stocks with Microsoft stock rising 1.51%, Amazon stock gaining 1.27%, Nvidia increasing 1.22% and Google’s parent company, Alphabet, closing the day up 1.13%.
On the other hand, stocks tied to economic reopening dipped Wednesday as American Airlines fell 4.33% and JetBlue dropped 2.67%.
Prior to the debt ceiling news, stocks were down as investors weighed concerns over inflation.
“It’s not a surprise that the word ‘stagflation’ is coming back into everybody’s vernacular,” Simeon Hyman, Proshars advisors head of investment strategy told Yahoo Finance. “Energy prices are going up, these cargo ships are stacked up on both sides of the coast, shortages of everything … and those prices are going up. But the core news is good.”
The 10-year treasury yield was flat at around 1.52% on Wednesday and oil prices hit their highest price since 2014 this week as West Texas Intermediate crude oil nearly rose above $80 per barrel.
October has been a volatile month of trading with the Dow gaining 483 points on Friday, dropping 324 points Monday and then rising 312 points on Tuesday.
“Well, October is sure living up to its reputation as the most volatile month of the year, said Ryan Detrick of LPL Financial. “We expect the October roller-coaster market to stick around for a bit longer.”
