Stocks Bounce Back, Dow Up 117

Stocks rebounded from the previous session’s lows Wednesday after a sluggish start, thanks in-part to a positive pending home sales report.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 117.11 points, or 1.17 percent, to 10,141.13. The S&P 500 gained 15.28 points, or 1.43, to 1,085.99. The NASDAQ gained 34.80 points, or 1.57 percent, to 2,257.13.

The major indexes regained most of the losses they suffered at the end of Tuesday’s session as an upbeat report on home sales provided some hope on the nation’s housing market. The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that its index of contracts on existing homes rose six percent in April.

However, the increase may not influence investors for an extended period or be an indicator of future activity because April was the final month for home buyers to qualify for a tax credit. Analysts widely expect housing data to weaken in the coming months because the credit has expired.

The increase was in line with forecasts from economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

Jobs: Investors are now awaiting the Labor Department’s monthly employment report on Friday. It is widely regarded as the most important economic report each month because high unemployment remains a major obstacle to a sustained recovery.

Economists predict the unemployment rate dipped to 9.8 percent in May from 9.9 percent in April and that employers added 513,000 jobs. Weekly reports on initial claims have hovered close to 450,000 throughout the year.

World Markets: The CAC 40 in France and FTSE 100 in Britain slid a fraction of a percentage point while Germany’s DAX ended the day near opening levels.

Asian shares ended the day mixed. The Shanghai Composite in China gained 0.12 percent. Japan’s Nikkei ended the down 1.12 percent while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 0.13 percent.

Currencies & Commodities: The euro continued to its fall near a fresh four-year low as the dollar gained ground in the euro zone. The euro fell an additional 1.083 percent to $1.2217 while the British pound gained against the dollar to $1.4659.

The greenback posted moderate gains against the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan.

The price of oil gained 81 cents to $73.39 a barrel for July delivery. Oil prices have fallen more than 16 percent over the last month. Prices fell almost two percent Tuesday after a trio of reports showed manufacturing activity slowed in China, Europe and America.

Gold prices slipped $4.50 an ounce to $1,220.30 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Swiss investment bank UBS said Wednesday that demand for gold exchange-traded funds hasn’t dipped, although the growth in total gold holdings has slowed over the past week.