NEW YORK (Reuters) -World stocks rose on Wednesday as Wall Street and Europe bounced back from large drops, while oil prices continued to be weighed down by rising COVID-19 cases in Asia.
Concern that record coronavirus infections in India, likely restrictions in Japan and rising cases in Latin America will be a hurdle for the global economic recovery has weighed on investor sentiment, though the S&P 500 closed just 12 points below its record close.
On Wall Street, a 7% drop in Netflix weighed on the Nasdaq but indexes bounced back from their largest declines in a month.
“You take Netflix out of today’s equation, it’s simply a broad-based rally,” said JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 316.01 points, or 0.93%, to 34,137.31, the S&P 500 gained 38.48 points, or 0.93%, to 4,173.42 and the Nasdaq Composite added 163.95 points, or 1.19%, to 13,950.22.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.41% and the pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.65%.
Emerging market stocks lost 0.80%. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 0.88% lower, while Japan’s Nikkei futures rose 0.86% after a 2% overnight drop in the Topix.
Oil prices were weighed by concerns that surging COVID-19 cases in India will drive down fuel demand in the world’s third-biggest oil importer and by a surprise build in U.S. stockpiles.
“Demand jitters were thrust back into the spotlight yesterday (Tuesday) amid a sharp rise in global coronavirus cases. Nowhere is this more obvious than in India,” PVM analysts said.
U.S. crude fell 2.49% to $61.11 per barrel and Brent was at $65.07, down 2.25% on the day.
In currency markets, the dollar dipped and was in a tight range throughout the session, not far from the more than six-week low hit intraday on Tuesday.
The dollar index fell 0.111%, with the euro up 0.02% to $1.2035.
The Japanese yen strengthened 0.03% versus the greenback at 108.06 per dollar, while Sterling was last trading at $1.3927, down 0.06% on the day.
U.S. Treasury yields were little changed even after an auction of 20-year bonds showed strong demand, a pattern analysts expect to persist until next week’s data releases and Federal Reserve meeting.
Benchmark 10-year notes last rose 2/32 in price to yield 1.5573%, from 1.562% late on Tuesday.
The 20-year bond last rose 5/32 in price to yield 2.1372%, from 2.147%.
Spot gold added 0.9% to $1,794.03 an ounce. Silver gained 2.62% to $26.55 an ounce.
(Additional reporting by Kate Duguid, Herbert Lash, Scott DiSavino and David Henry in New York, Ross Kerber in Boston, and Shreyashi Sanyal and Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Will Dunham)
