US Stocks Rebound Slightly Amid Continued Recession Fears

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th August, 2019) US stocks traded slightly up on Thursday because of positive retail numbers, but some analysts have said fears over a global recession continue.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained almost 100 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 25,579. The slight uptick came on the heels of the Dow's largest single drop of the year, losing more than 800 points on Wednesday.

The country's two other major stock indices, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite, also saw slight gains on Thursday, up 0.4 percent and 0.08 percent, respectively.

Positive retail numbers and better-than-expected earnings from Walmart helped offset the fall of the ten-year Treasury yield, which reached a three-year low.

The drop in long-term US bond yields came shortly after the ten-year and two-year Treasury yields inverted on Wednesday. This inversion has in the past been a reliable indicator of an impending recession.

There have been five inversions of these yields since 1978 all of which were precursors to a recession, media reported.

On average a recession occurred some 22 months after the inversion.

Meanwhile, the US Commerce Department said on Thursday that retail sales rose solidly in July and beat expectations. Walmart's stock traded 6.1 percent after the retail giant reported growth in its core domestic business.

Fears on a global recession remain after two of the world's biggest economies reported weak data on Wednesday.

In China, the world's second-largest economy, growth in factory output, retail spending and investment weakened in July.

European markets fell Wednesday after Germany's economy contracted 0.1 percent in the second quarter amid the global trade war and troubles in the auto industry.

Some market analysts attributed the outcome to the US-China trade war, in particular China's decision to back away from its commitment to purchase more US agricultural products and devalue the Yuan to bellow the seven-to-one ratio with the US Dollar for the first time in a decade.