June 2 (UPI) — All three major U.S. indexes posted gains on Wednesday, breaking two-day losing streaks after starting off the month of June in the red.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 435.05 points, or 1.33%, in a seesaw session that saw the blue-chip index down as much as 300 points earlier in the day, while the S&P 500 rose 1.84% and the Nasdaq Composite ended up 2.69%.
All three indexes were on pace for a positive week after the gains, with the Dow up 0.1%, the S&P 500 rising 0.5% and the Nasdaq increasing 1.5% for the week to date.
They were also further off their lows for the year, with the Dow 8.5% higher, the S&P 500 up 9.6% and the Nasdaq Composite climbing 11.6% from 52-week lows, after all three had been near bear market territory, or down 20% from recent record highs.
“Bearish sentiment remains overdone, a lot of the upcoming profit warnings should mostly be already priced in. Stocks should start to eventually push higher this summer as economic activity moderates,” said Edward Moya, a senior analyst with OANDA.
Shares of Microsoft eked out a 0.79% gain after falling earlier in the day, as the company forecast that revenue and earnings for this quarter would fall short of analysts’ expectations.
Other tech stocks were on the rise Thursday, with Nvidia gaining 6.94%, Tesla rising 4.68% and Zoom climbing 4.26%. Shares of, Facebook parent, Meta, also rose 5.4% after Sheryl Sandberg announced she would step down as chief operating officer on Wednesday.
Investors also weighed mixed earnings results with shares of online pet retailer Chewy skyrocketing 24% after the company reported a surprise profit, while Hewlett-Packard Enterprise cut forecasts, citing supply chain disruptions and its exit from Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine, as its stock fell 5.2%.
Oil prices gave back gains from earlier in the week, as OPEC and its allies said Thursday they plan to increase oil production by 648,000 barrels per day in July and August to offset a decline in Russia’s output caused by sanctions by the European Union.
West Texas Intermediate crude and Brent crude oil futures, the U.S. and international benchmarks, fell more than 3%.
Investors also reacted to the Labor Department’s weekly jobs report showing that the number of people filing first-time unemployment claims fell for the second consecutive week.
Friday will see the release of the May jobs report, which investors are expected to watch closely.
