Late buying gave stocks a decent finish on Thursday after getting crushed in the last two days.
The S&P 500 advanced 0.8%. The Dow Jones industrials added 0.47%, and the Nasdaq Composite won a relatively strong 1.12% gain. The gains were welcome after the Dow lost 838 points in the prior two days, with the S&P 500 giving up 89 points and the Nasdaq 214.
The upside of the rally was heavy buying in the last half hour of the day. The Dow moved up more than 100 points to finish with a 122-point gain. The rally was powered by big technology stocks, including Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). In addition, Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST), due to report earnings after the close, was up 1.4%.
Uncertainty in the market came early in the day from the Institute for Supply Management, whose September report for the non-manufacturing economy showed the slowest growth in three years.
That expanded speculation that the Federal Reserve will cut its key rate at its meeting at the end of October. 's Fed Rate Monitor Tool gives a rate cut a 91% chance of happening.
Oil prices were mostly flat, but interest rates dropped. The 10-Year Treasury yield fell to 1.536% from Wednesday's 1.597%. Gold futures moved higher as many investors bought the metal for relative safety.
