Dow scores triple-digit gains as market volatility persists
After Monday’s historic sell-off in the stock market, the Dow Jones industrial average regained more than 560 points during the late hours of the afternoon trading session on Tuesday.
At the market close, the S&P 500 gained more than 45 points, advancing in an extremely volatile session. Earlier in the day, the Dow was down more than 550 points as the index traded in its third-largest point range in history. The major indexes bounced erratically between gains and losses throughout the day.
Tuesday’s rebound came on the heels of Monday’s massive sell-off, in which the Dow plummeted a record 1,175 points, down 4.6%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 dropped 113 points, or 4.1%.
Monday’s pullback erased the Dow’s year-to-date gains as the blue-chip index notched its largest intraday drop in history.
Strong economic indicators including a robust January employment report sparked concern on Wall Street regarding the pace of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate increases as it proceeds with unwinding its massive balance sheet.
In testimony before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he wasn’t “overly concerned” about the market volatility.
“I think you’ve seen a normal market correction, although large … the market moves both ways,” Mnuchin said.
The CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, spiked above 50 for the first time since Aug. 24, 2015, the day of the infamous Flash Crash.