Stocks on Wall Street rallied on Wednesday, rebounding from a long stretch of losses as markets in Europe also showed signs of settling down after a week of turmoil. The snapback came after the Bank of England said it would intervene in the British government bond market, after the new government’s budget plans triggered a bout of volatility in stocks, bonds and currency markets.
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The S&P 500 rose 2 percent, after six consecutive days of losses, the longest losing streak since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in February 2020. The index had fallen more than 6 percent during that six-day stretch. The Nasdaq composite also gained about 2 percent on Wednesday.
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In Europe, the Stoxx 600 rose 0.3 percent, as did Britain’s FTSE 100 Index.
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In Asia, the Nikkei 225 fell 1.5 percent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 3.4 percent.
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In the government bond market, the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note, a benchmark for borrowing costs for a wide variety of debt, briefly rose above 4 percent for the first time since October 2008, as investors anticipated that interest rates would rise rapidly as central banks tightened their policies to fight persistent inflation. After its jump, the 10-year yield came down somewhat, to about 3.7 percent.
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Yields on British government bonds tumbled, meanwhile, after the country’s central bank said it would buy government bonds on “whatever scale is necessary” to restore order in financial markets.
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The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil, the U.S. benchmark, rose 4.7 percent to around $above $82 a barrel, building on Tuesday’s gains
