U.S. Stocks Climb After Stumble

U.S. stocks rebounded from their worst session in weeks, boosted by shares of energy companies.

Energy stocks rose alongside oil prices as Gulf Coast refineries continued to restart following Hurricane Harvey, boosting demand for crude.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 54.33 points, or 0.2%, to 21807.64. The S&P 500 advanced 7.69 points, or 0.3%, to 2465.54 and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 17.74 points, or 0.3%, to 6393.31. The three indexes posted their biggest one-day declines since Aug. 17 on Tuesday.

"We remain overweight equities and don't think [Tuesday] was a sign of things to come," said Jon Adams, senior investment strategist with BMO Global Asset Management. "Our bias has been to buy the dips," he said.

The S&P 500 energy sector climbed 1.6%, its largest one-day advance in two months. Chevron and Exxon Mobil were two of the biggest gainers in the Dow industrials, with shares of Chevron adding $2.35, or 2.1%, to $111.79 and Exxon Mobil shares climbing 1.60, or 2.1%, to 78.78. Together, the two stocks added roughly 27 points to the blue-chip index as U.S. crude oil rose 1% to $49.16 a barrel.

News from Washington drove some modest intraday moves in stocks and U.S. government bonds.

Stocks slightly pared gains and Treasury yields fell briefly after Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer announced his intention to resign, months before his term was set to expire.

Treasury yields then climbed following the news that President Donald Trump and congressional leaders had agreed to raise the federal government's borrowing limit for three months. Doubts about raising the debt ceiling had weighed on markets in recent weeks.

Financial stocks rose after their worst day since mid-May, with the KBW Nasdaq Bank Index, a measure of 24 of the largest U.S. bank stocks, edging up 0.2%.

United Continental Holdings shares declined 77 cents, or 1.3%, to 60.33 after the company said Hurricane Harvey and price competition will weigh on revenue in the current quarter. Investors are now tracking Hurricane Irma, which has grown into one of the most powerful storms ever recorded over the Atlantic Ocean, prompting evacuations in Florida and disrupting travel.

Continuing tensions following North Korea's recent nuclear test -- its most powerful yet -- were also a concern for investors.

"While the [market] outlook is generally positive, there are a lot of risk factors out there," said Richard Benson, co-head of portfolio investments at Millennium Global Investments. "I'm positive but worried."

Solid earnings and economic growth around the globe have supported stocks this year, with U.S. indexes hitting record highs over the summer even as investors have grown anxious about how long the bull run can last.

Goldman Sachs Group Chairman Lloyd Blankfein on Wednesday sounded a warning about the markets, saying that some of what he sees "unnerves" him.

"Things have been going up for too long," he told attendees at a Handelsblatt business conference in Frankfurt.

Earlier, the Stoxx Europe 600 rose less than 0.1%, with many investors looking ahead to the next monetary policy meeting of the European Central Bank on Thursday.

Most expect the ECB to hold off until next month to announce the start of winding down its EUR2.3 trillion ($2.7 trillion) stimulus program. But investors were awaiting comments by ECB President Mario Draghi, who is expected to offer clues about the stimulus phaseout.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index -- among the world's best-performing stock benchmarks this year -- finished down 0.5%, while Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.1%.

Write to Georgi Kantchev at georgi.kantchev@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 06, 2017 17:53 ET (21:53 GMT)