Stocks claw back more lost ground as tech struggles higher

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street Thursday as the market claws back some more of the ground it lost in a three-day slump that snapped a day earlier. The S&P 500 rose 0.6%. Several tech companies, which fell the most during the slump, were rising again, including Adobe and Amazon. Tech companies have posted outsized gains this year despite the dire state of the economy as investors expect them to continue banking big profits. More weak data came out early Thursday as Labor Department reported that 884,000 people applied for unemployment benefits last week, a sign that layoffs remain very high.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story appears below.

Global stock markets turned lower on Thursday, with Wall Street futures were slipping ahead of the open as investors focused on the recent volatility in tech stocks.

Some investors appeared encouraged by hopes of possible additional stimulus from the European Central Bank, analysts said. But they warned the recovery was fragile.

“To the extent that ‘buy the dip’ mentality persists, this market may possess a somewhat more stubborn bullish streak,” said Mizuho Bank. However, “markets will be prone to more volatility."

In Europe, the FTSE 100 in London lost 0.7% to 5,969 and the CAC 40 in Paris was 0.4% lower at 5,025. The DAX in Frankfurt was flat at 13,236.

On Wall Street, futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.5%.

In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.6% to 3,234.82 after spending most of the day in positive territory. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo added 0.9% to 23,235.47 while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gave up 0.2% to 24,428.23.

The Kospi in Seoul advanced 0.9% to 2,396.48 and Sydney's ASX-S&P 500 gained 0.5% to 5,908.50. India's Sensex added 1.3% to 38,676.69. New Zealand and Bangkok advanced while Singapore and Jakarta declined.

Global markets have recovered most of this year's losses, but that was based largely on strong gains for tech stocks while other companies are lower.

Forecasters warn the stock price recovery might be too big and too early to be supported by uncertain economic activity as coronavirus infection numbers rise in the United States, Brazil and some other countries. Some governments have re-imposed anti-disease controls that hamper business.

On Wednesday, Apple, Amazon and other U.S. tech companies that had lost momentum late last week all regained some ground.

The Dow climbed 1.6% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 2.7%. It had dropped 10% over the previous three days.

The U.S. Congress is at an impasse on whether to approve a new economic aid package after additional unemployment benefits ran out. The Senate is due to vote this week on a Republican-proposed package but it has little chance of passage because Democrats want more aid.

A Senate vote this week on a trimmed-down relief package proposed by Republicans has only a slim chance of passage as Democrats insist on more sweeping aid.

In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude lost 52 cents to $37.53 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.29 on Wednesday to settle at $38.05. Brent crude, the international standard, declined 43 cents to $40.36 per barrel in London. It added $1.01 the previous session to $40.79.

The dollar declined to 106.13 Japanese yen from Wednesday's 106.18. The euro gained to $1.1839 from $1.1823.