The Dow Jones gained over 350 points, taking the two-day advance in excess of 1,000 points. The S&P 500 ended 0.6% higher, while the Nasdaq, which was trading lower for the better part of the session, also recovered from the lows to end with gains of 0.3%.
Gains on the Dow were led by shares of Walmart and IBM. More than 90% of the companies in the S&P 500 rose, overshadowing a slide in most megacaps. An equal-weighted version of the benchmark — one that gives Target Corp. as much clout as Apple Inc. — climbed 1.3%.
Not as bad as feared retail sales for February helped sentiment as the 0.3% figure, excluding autos, was in-line with street expectations.
“We’re in a near-term counter-trend rally,” Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, told CNBC, adding that he believes the S&P 500′s correction might conclude around the 5,400 level. That implies a decline of more than 4% from Monday’s close.
“Corrections that occur within a bull market, tend to be good buying opportunities,” said David Lefkowitz at UBS Global Wealth Management. “The spike in policy uncertainty hit the market at a time when investor positioning and sentiment were quite elevated. But we think a lot of this has now been cleaned up.”
The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 4.30%. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.3%.
A sense of wait-and-see may emerge from policymakers this week, in their first assessment of how Donald Trump’s trade policies are impacting the economy. With Fed officials expected to hold rates steady on Wednesday, the market will focus on officials’ updated economic projections and Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference for clues on the path ahead.
(With Inputs From Agencies.)
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