Stocks staged an afternoon rally on Tuesday as concerns about a possible recession in the U.S. weighed on investor sentiment but lower interest rates appeared to boost the tech sector.
The Dow Jones Industrials soldiered to within 129.44 points of breakeven to 30, 967.82.
The S&P 500 gained 6.06 points to 3,831.39.
The NASDAQ Composite found positive territory, gaining 194.39, or 1.8%, to 11,322.24.
Stocks tied to economic growth fell sharply on Tuesday, with machinery names Deere giving back 3.2%, and Caterpillar falling 2.5%, and hitting their lowest levels of the year. Mining stock Freeport-McMoRan dropped 6.6%.
However, the decline in interest rates may have boosted growth-oriented tech stocks, helping the Nasdaq outperform. Docusign and Zoom Video rose 6.7% and 8.5%.
Consumer discretionary stocks, which have been among the worst performers in recent weeks, helped the market recover from its lows of the session. Amazon and Nike gained more than 3%, while Target rose 2.3%. Cheaper oil prices could be a boost for these stocks as consumers adjust their spending patterns amid high inflation.
Elsewhere, shares of Ford fell 1% after the automaker’s second-quarter sales rose more slowly than expected.
In this shortened holiday week, investors are looking ahead to the release of June jobs report data on Friday.
According to Dow Jones estimates, job growth likely slowed in June with 250,000 nonfarm payrolls added, down from 390,000 in May. Economists surveyed expect the unemployment rate to hold at 3.6%.
This week’s economic calendar also includes Wednesday’s release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting. May factory orders are expected for Tuesday, with earnings from WD-40 and Levi Strauss scheduled for Friday.
Treasury prices swooned, bringing yields to back to Friday’s 2.83%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices lost $8.81 to $99.62 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices plummeted $35.20 to $1,766.30 U.S. an ounce.
