Thursday's Stock Market Close: Indexes Reverse Early Losses, SNAP Roiled By Facebook Announcement

Stocks turned higher Thursday following an early session plunge on economic data as hopes for an interest rate cut took hold.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average stopped a two-day slide that saw the average lose more than 800 points to close 124 points at 26,202.80, up 0.48%. The Nasdaq Composite added 87 points or 1.12% to close at 7,872.26 while the S&P 500 added 23 points or 0.81% to 2,910.86.
Volume on the New York Stock Exchange totaled 2.5 billion shares with 1,730 issues advancing and 1,208 declining. Thirty-eight issues hit new highs and 88 registered new lows.
Leading the most actives were Snap (SNAP), which was trading more than 4% lower after Facebook announced it would launch a separate camera-first messaging app called Threads for its Instagram platform, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Bank of America (BAC).
Word from the Institute for Supply Management that the overall nonmanufacturing/purchasing managers indexes fell nearly four points in September to 52.6 sent U.S. indexes into a dive in early trading. The news follows a Tuesday ISM report that the manufacturing sector contracted in September and was coupled with reports out of Europe that the economy there had stalled with both the United Kingdom and Germany registering their weakest readings in the services index in three years.
Traders now are betting the U.S. Federal Reserve will lower short-term interest rates before the end of the year. The federal-funds futures indicated a 53% chance the Fed will lower its benchmark rate from the current 1.75% to 2.25% target, up from a 39% probability Wednesday and 19% a week ago.
“We expect the Fed to cut rates by 25 basis points. This insurance cut should create some buffer for U.S. growth against a softening global backdrop. The threat is real: PMI readings show that global manufacturing is in a recession,” said Dec Mullarkey, head of investment strategy at SLC Management.
Global markets teetered on continuing uncertainty stemming from the U.S.-China trade war and the United Kingdom’s impending divorce from the European Union. High-level trade talks between Washington and Beijing are set for next week in Washington while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s five-point plan for disengaging from the trade alliance Oct. 31 received a cool reception in Brussels.
Asian markets were mostly lower. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed up 0.26% but the Japan Nikkei 225 was off 2.01% and China’s Shanghai Composite dropped 0.92%. Australia’s S&P/ASX fell 2.21%.
London’s FTSE was off 0.63%, the German DAX plunged 2.76% and the French CAC 40 gained 0.3%.
The British pound was up 0.35% to $1.241 while the euro edged up 0.14% to $1.0973. The dollar index was off 0.11%.
Oil futures were lower. Crude traded at $52.27, off 0.7%, while Brent crude traded at $57.53, off 0.31%. Gold futures traded at $1,512, up 0.27% while silver traded at $17.65, off 0.16%.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.538%, down 0.58%, while the 30-year note fell to 2.04%, off 0.044%.