US stocks recover with less volatility, metals on rise

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Major indexes in the US stock market opened higher on Thursday amid a decline in volatility to recover some of their losses in a previous session.

The Dow Jones gained 260 points, or 0.86%, reaching 30,563 points at 9.40 a.m. EDT (1440 GMT) after plummeting 633 points, or 2.05%, on Wednesday to mark its worst one-day selloff since October.

The S&P 500 gained 31 points, or 0.85%, rising to 3,782 after it shed 98 points, 2.57%, to erase all of its gains since the beginning of 2021.

The Nasdaq dived 355 points, 2.61%, on Wednesday but recuperated 90 points, or 0.68%, to 13,360 after the opening bell.

The VIX volatility index, also known as the fear index, soared 61.6% to hit 37.21 at one point on Wednesday -- its highest since Nov. 2. It was down by 21% after market opening to around 29, indicating that investors had shaken off some level of uncertainty in the markets.

Due to rising COVID-19 cases and new variants of the disease, investors once again turned to safe bets in precious metals.

Gold was up to $1,855 per ounce with a 0.6% gain as of 10.00 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT), while silver had soared 3.8% to $26.2 an ounce.

Shares of GameStop continued its unprecedented rally to gain another 31.7%, reaching a record-high of $457.78.

The US gaming retailer saw its shares jump by 156% on Wednesday after a group of small investors continued to coordinate on social media platforms for options against the short positions of large hedge funds.