Wall Street Rebounds After Sharp Selloff, NYSE Glitch

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Wall Street rebounded Thursday, but pared gains in late-afternoon action to close well off session highs, a day aftertechnical issues plagued the New York Stock Exchange, suspending trading there for nearly four hours.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 32 points or 0.18% to 17547. The S&P 500 added 4 points, or 0.23% to 2051, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 12 points, or 0.12% to 4922.

Today’s markets

Trading at the NYSE, owned by Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE), began just like any other morning as the exchange recovered from a technical outage that rerouted trades to other exchanges from 11:32 a.m. ET until 3:10 p.m. ET in the prior session.

A spokesperson from the exchange said trading was impacted by a “configuration issue” that halted trading of NYSE-listed stocks. It came as a result of a communication problem between customer gateways and trading units after the exchange began a rollout of a software release that was in preparation for an industry test of the SIP, or security information processor, timestamp on July 11. The NYSE canceled all of its open orders before trading resumed later in the afternoon in time for a normal close to the session.

Still, NYSE Group President Thomas Farley told FOX Business it “wasn’t my best day.”

Meanwhile, tumult overseas in both China and Greece quieted Wednesday, giving Wall Street a bit of a reprieve.

Over in China, where stocks there entered bear-market territory last week and continued the downward plunge this week, the overnight session told a different story. The nation’s Shanghai Composite index closed 5.76% higher after regulators took additional steps to stem the bleeding in the equity markets, banning investors with large stakes in publicly-traded companies from selling their shares. So far for the month, the index has plunged 27.46%.

“If [these measures] are followed up by fresh liquidity measures, then further panic selling may be averted,” Chris Beauchamp, senior market analyst at IG, said in a note. “But the turmoil of the past week is a salutary reminder that the still-immature Chinese equity market is not an area for the faint hearted.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 3.73% to 24392, while Japan’s Nikkei added 0.60% to 19855.

Meanwhile, Greece continued its negotiations with its international creditors after the nation successfully submitted its loan application, and as traders await a new proposal from Greece by 6 p.m. ET. The nation's banks will remain closed through the end of the week.

“For now, markets just appear to be pleased that negotiations are underway once again. Having stared into the abyss, there may now be just enough willingness to strike a deal that will take the Greek problem off the agenda for a few months at least,” Beauchamp noted.

U.S. investors will turn their focus to a relatively light economic and earnings calendar.

Data from the Labor Department showed more Americans than expected filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week. The number of claims jumped to 297,000 from an upwardly revised 282,000 the week prior. Wall Street expected a drop to 275,000 from an initially reported 281,000.

Pepsi (NYSE:PEP) shares rose after the company reported its quarterly results ahead of the opening bell. The beverage giant booked a top and bottom line that beat Wall Street’s expectations, and upped its 2015 forecast.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) announced it accepted a $12.5 billion offer from Coty to merge 43 of its beauty brands including P&G’s professional and retail hair color and styling products, cosmetics, and fragrance businesses.

The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday it lowered its global growth forecast to 3.3%, a 0.2 percentage point decline from the level it expected in April. The global financial institution cited a slowdown in the U.S. economy, which contracted in the first quarter of 2015, as a driver for the change. However, it maintained its earlier outlook for 2016, and said the global economy should expand by 3.8%.

In commodities, after a five-day slide, U.S. crude oil prices headed higher, settling up 2.34% to $52.85 per barrel, while Brent crude added 2.75% to $58.62 a barrel. Meanwhile, gold slid 0.25% to $1,160 a troy ounce.

In currencies, the euro fell 0.45% against the U.S. dollar. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose 0.104 of a percentage point to 2.310%. Bond yields move in the opposite direction of prices.

European markets also followed Asia markets higher on Wednesday. The Euro Stoxx 50, which tracks large-cap companies in the eurozone, jumped 2.78% to 3420. Meanwhile, the German Dax climbed 2.32% to 10996, the French CAC 40 rose 2.55% to 4757, while the UK’s FTSE 100 traded up 1.40% to 6581.