US Stocks Jump on Oil, Bond Markets    09/17 09:52

   U.S. stocks are jumping Thursday and clawing back most of their losses for 
the week.

   NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stocks are jumping Thursday and clawing back most of 
their losses for the week.

   Falling oil prices and easing pressure from the bond market are helping Wall 
Street reverse many of its moves from the prior day, when the Federal Reserve 
hiked its main interest rate for the first time in years and suggested more may 
be ahead as it tries to get the nation's high inflation under control.

   The S&P 500 jumped 1% and was on track for just its second rise in the last 
nine days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 306 points, or 0.6%, as of 
9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.3% higher.

   Stocks got a boost after the price for a barrel of Brent crude oil slid 3% 
to $102.70. That's down sharply from the nearly $110 it reached earlier in the 
week on worries that the war with Iran will keep oil bottled up in the Middle 
East instead of going to customers worldwide.

   Brent is of course still much more expensive than the $72 per barrel that it 
cost earlier this summer, but Thursday's slide helped pull yields lower in the 
bond market and removed some pressure on stocks. The yield on the 10-year 
Treasury fell to 4.95% from 5.01% late Wednesday.

   Higher yields make it more expensive for everyone to borrow money, from the 
U.S. government to people looking to buy houses to businesses wanting to build 
data centers. That in turn slows the economy.

   The Fed on Wednesday raised the short-term interest rate that it controls, 
the federal funds rate, by a quarter of a percentage point for its first hike 
in more than three years. Officials also indicated at least one more increase 
may be coming this year and that the Fed may then keep the federal funds rate 
high through next year.

   The signals sent Wall Street on a roller coaster. Stocks initially held onto 
their earlier gains Wednesday but then slid sharply before recovering a chunk 
of the losses before trading ended for the day.

   On the upside for markets, the shift to higher interest rates built 
confidence that the Fed is committed to getting inflation back to its target of 
2%. Questions had begun to bubble in the summer about whether the Fed would 
feel pressure from President Donald Trump, who has been calling for lower 
interest rates. And the short-term cost of pain for the economy could be worth 
it if it gets inflation under control following years of staying too high.

   On the downside for markets, higher rates would undercut prices for stocks 
and other investments. When investors are making more in interest from owning 
bonds, which are considered safer investments, they're less willing to pay high 
prices for other kinds of investments. That's beyond the effect higher rates 
have in slowing the economy in hopes of removing fuel for further acceleration 
of inflation.

   Some reports on Thursday signaled the U.S. economy may be strong enough to 
withstand higher interest rates. One said fewer U.S. workers applied for 
unemployment benefits last week, the latest sign that the job market remains 
solid. Another said that manufacturing growth in the mid-Atlantic region was 
stronger than economists expected.

   Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh said on Wednesday that a strengthening economy is 
one of the reasons Fed officials moved to raise interest rates after keeping 
them on hold through this year.

   He also cited "geopolitics," along with the threat that the increases in 
prices it's causing could push up inflation elsewhere. That's likely a nod to 
the war with Iran and its effect on oil prices.

   On Wall Street, stocks in the artificial-intelligence industry continued to 
rebound following their worldwide slide on Monday after leaders of the AI 
industry called for a slowdown in development to address safety issues for 
humanity.

   Nvidia climbed 1.8%, and Advanced Micro Devices rose 3.6%. That was even 
though OpenAI disclosed six more reports of "unexpected or concerning" behavior 
in AI models.

   Stocks of several homebuilders also rose, even though a report showed the 
industry broke ground on fewer new homes last month than economists expected. 
The housing industry has been one of the hardest hit by the climb for the 
10-year Treasury's yield, which topped 5% this week for the first time since 
2023 and has sent mortgage rates higher.

   Thursday's ease in yields helped offer some support, and D.R. Horton rose 
0.8%, while PulteGroup added 0.6%. Rival Lennar fell 0.9% after reporting 
weaker profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

   In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe following a 
weaker finish in Asia.

   London's FTSE 100 rose 0.8% after the Bank of England decided to keep its 
interest rates on hold.