BCN-16US stocks rebound from prior session selloff

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ZCZC

BCN-16

US-STOCKS-MARKETS

US stocks rebound from prior session selloff

NEW YORK, May 31, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Wall Street stocks jumped Wednesday as
investors took a more optimistic stance on the Italian political crisis that
sent them fleeing in the prior session.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.3 percent to close the day at
24,667.78.

The broad-based S&P 500 also advanced 1.3 percent to 2,724.01, while the
tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.9 percent to 7,462.45.

The crisis in Italy continued to hover, with anti-establishment leader
Luigi Di Maio seeking to resurrect a populist coalition that collapsed at the
weekend by offering the president a compromise over a controversial pick for
economy minister.

In any case, investors adopted a more benign view of the situation,
bidding up bank shares that tumbled in Tuesday’s session on what-ifs that
included a eurozone implosion or widespread defaults.

“Yesterday was a bit overdone,” said Nathan Thooft of Manulife Asset
Management.

“The reality is that the Italian political dynamics aren’t going to be
solved any time soon,” he said. “The market today is realizing we don’t
really know what the outcomes are going to be but we are not going to bet on
the worst-case scenario.”

US economic data was fairly positive if not stellar: the government
estimated first-quarter growth at 2.2 percent, a bit below the prior
estimate.

And the private sector added 178,000 jobs in May, a bit below expectations
in a report that comes ahead of the more closely-watched US jobs report on
Friday.

A Federal Reserve “beige book” report described US firms as largely upbeat
despite trade uncertainties and growing labor shortages.

BSS/AFP/HR/1025