NEW YORK - Wall Street's main indexes closed higher in choppy trading Thursday, with bank stocks soaring ahead of annual stress test results and helping to offset investor jitters over alarming increases in new coronavirus cases.
But investors remained nervous throughout the day as the number of new virus cases in U.S. states grew, especially in the West and South.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he was halting his state's phased economic reopening in response to a jump in COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations.
And stocks wobbled temporarily late in the session after Apple Inc said it would close 14 stores in Florida again because of rising COVID-19 cases after other re-closures in Houston, Arizona, South Carolina, and North Carolina.
A flare-up in virus cases in recent days has taken some wind out of a Wall Street rally powered by hopes of a quick economic recovery and massive government stimulus efforts.
After coming within 4.5% of its record high on June 8, the benchmark S&P 500 has lost ground.
While bank stocks appeared to provide the biggest boost on Thursday, Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles, said investors were broadly buying the dip after Wednesday's pullback in stocks.
Major indexes
Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 298.77 points, or 1.17%, to 25,744.71; the S&P 500 gained 33.34 points, or 1.09%, to 3,083.67; and the Nasdaq Composite added 107.84 points, or 1.09%, to 10,017.00.
All the three major indexes had opened Thursday's session lower after data showed the number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits fell less than expected last week, likely as hiring by reopening businesses is being partly offset by a second wave of layoffs.
But the S&P's financial sector gave the benchmark its biggest boost after regulators unveiled two rules easing restrictions covering large banks with complex trading and investment portfolios.
The Federal Reserve will release results of annual bank stress tests after the markets close, potentially indicating how much flexibility they will have to return capital to shareholders.