U.S. Stocks Staged a Late Comeback on May 2

Without a doubt, it was a day full of challenges for U.S stocks. However, they staged a late comeback on Monday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite hitting new lows for the year before closing up for the day.

The Nasdaq Composite gained 1.63% to close at 12,536.02. The S&P 500 advanced 0.57% to 4,155.38. Moreover, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 84.29 points, or 0.26% to close at 33,061.50. It was down more than 500 points at its session lows.

The first trading session of the month came on the heels of a rough April for stocks. People should keep in mind that the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 are coming off their worst month since March 2020, when the pandemic took hold. The Nasdaq Composite had its worst in a long time, more precisely since 2008. 

April was a tough month for the tech industry. We should not forget that tech was a particularly weak point in April. Nevertheless, the group led the rebound on Monday. Facebook’s parent company Meta as well as Netflix jumped 5.3% and 4.8% respectively. Microsoft and Google’s parent company Alphabet gained more than 2% each. 

Amazon and Apple closed up less than 1% after spending much of the session in negative territory.

Semiconductors and energy stocks were two areas of strength on the first day of the week. Intel gained 3.1% and Chevron added 2%, to support the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Investors are monitoring the Federal Open Market Committee. Its decision will be released on Wednesday at 2 p.m ET. 

Stocks in Asia-Pacific

Stocks in Asia-Pacific mostly fell on Tuesday, as Australia raised the interest rate for the first time in more than a decade.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.42% to close at 7,316.20. The country’s currency last declined to $0.7090 after jumping to levels around $0.7121 following the hike.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.1% in the last hour of trade. Shares of Alibaba earlier dropped more than 9%, before last pairing losses to decline 1.37%.

In South Korea, the Kospi declined 0.26% to 2,680.46.