Major US stock indices closed in positive territory

U.S. major stock indexes rose moderately as energy stocks rose amid rising oil prices, but bond market movements further curtailed, raising fears of a recession due to the ongoing fierce trade war between the US and China.

Oil prices jumped by almost 2%. The oil market was supported by weekly data from the US Department of Energy, which showed that oil reserves in the country fell 10 million barrels last week. Analysts on average expected a decrease in reserves of 2.1 million barrels.

However, fear of a potential recession holds back the general positive. The closely tracked spread between the yield of 10-year and 2-year US government bonds fell to -6 basis points on Wednesday for a short time, the lowest level since 2007. Meanwhile, the yield on 30-year US Treasury bonds is held just above its record low set earlier in today's session.

Corporate reporting also triggered several notable movements in the stock market. Autodesk (ADSK), a software development company, crashed almost 7% as it lowered its forecast for the full year. On the contrary, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) shares jumped 3.4% after the company announced that it had exceeded expectations for quarterly earnings.

Most DOW components completed trading in positive territory (26 out of 30). The biggest gainers were Dow Inc. (DOW; + 3.23%). Outsiders were Johnson & Johnson (JNJ; -0.99%).

Almost all S&P sectors recorded an increase. The exception is the utilities sector (-0.1%). The raw materials sector grew the most (+ 1.3%).

At the time of closing:

Dow 26,035.49 +257.59 +1.00%

S&P 500 2,887.94 +18.78 +0.65%

Nasdaq 100 7,856.88 +29.94 +0.38%