US stocks gain steam, trying to recover from losses

​​​​​​​By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - US stocks gained steam Tuesday as they tried to recover from the previous days' losses as recession fears pushed global markets into a freefall.

The Dow Jones was up 491 points, or 1.27%, to 39,194 at 12.23 p.m. EDT after diving 2.6% on Monday and 1.51% on Friday.

The S&P 500 rose 91 points, or 1.76%, to 5,278 at the time, after plummeting 3% the previous session and 1.84% at the end of last week.

The Nasdaq, meanwhile, added 286 points, or 1.77%, to 16,484 as the tech-heavy index took a nosedive of 3.43% on Monday and 2.43% on Friday.

US job figures released Friday signaled a cooling labor market, which worried investors who believe the Federal Reserve has been too late in starting to lower interest rates, pushing the US economy into a recession.

The VIX volatility index, also known as the fear index, plummeted 35% to 25.03 after jumping 59% to 37.20 on Monday.

The 10-year US Treasury yield increased 2.5% to 3.874% after falling Monday to its lowest since July 2023.

The dollar index rose 0.31% to 103.01, while the euro lost 0.18% to $1.0938 against the greenback.

Precious metals were in negative territory, with gold losing 1% to $2,386 per ounce and silver falling 0.6% to $27.08.

Oil prices were up around 0.7%, with global benchmark Brent crude at $76.80 per barrel and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate at $73.50.