NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fell broadly on Wall Street Thursday as worries about a possible recession and rising bond yields put the squeeze back on markets.

The S&P 500 fell 2.1%, reaching its lowest level since late 2020. The washout erased the index’s gains in a big rally the day before. That’s when forceful moves by the Bank of England to get suddenly spiking U.K. yields under control led to a global burst of relief among investors.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.5% and the Nasdaq composite lost 2.8%. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies dropped 2.4%.

The major indexes are on pace for a weekly loss to wind up what has been a dismal month for Wall Street. With one day left in September, the benchmark S&P 500 is down about 8% for the month.

For markets to really turn higher, after U.S. stocks have lost more than 20% of their value this year, analysts say investors will need to see a break from the high inflation that’s swept the world.

That hasn’t happened yet, with even more data arriving Thursday showing the opposite. And that means the Federal Reserve and other central banks will likely keep pushing interest rates higher to slow their economies in hopes of pushing down inflation. By doing that, they’re also risking recessions if they go too far.

“The economy doesn’t look to be softening if you look at employment data,” said Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial Network. That undercuts any investor hopes a weakening economy could convince the Fed to take it easier on interest rates.

The selling was widespread Thursday, with more than 90% of stocks in the S&P 500 finishing in the red. The index fell 78.57 points to 3,640.47.

The Dow lost 458.13 points to close at 29,225.61, and the Nasdaq slid 314.13 points to 10,737.51. The Russell 2000 finished down 40.31 points at 1,674.93.

Stocks fell as Treasury yields climbed and raised the pressure on markets. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 3.77% from 3.73% late Wednesday. It had been above 3.85% in morning trading.

The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed moves, rose more aggressively to 4.20% from 4.14%.

A stronger-than-expected report on the U.S. jobs market bolstered expectations for the Fed to keep raising rates and hold them at high levels for a while, potentially through 2023.

Fewer workers filed for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected. That’s good news for workers in general and an indication layoffs aren’t widespread despite worries about the economy. But it also keeps upward pressure on inflation, which gives the Fed more reason to keep rates high.

The central bank’s benchmark overnight interest rate has already zoomed to a range of 3% to 3.25%, up from basically zero as recently as March. That’s its highest level since 2008, and the wide expectations is for the Fed to hike it by at least another full percentage point by early 2023.

Rate increases have a notoriously long lag time before they hit the broad economy. But they’re already causing big pain for the housing industry, where the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage has more than doubled over the last 12 months to 6.70%.

Higher interest rates not only invite the possibility of a recession, they also push down on prices for stocks and other investments regardless of what the economy’s doing. Investments seen as the most expensive or the riskiest tend to take the hardest hits.

Economic reports elsewhere around the world also firmed expectations for higher rates coming in the future. In Germany, for example, a reading on inflation came in hotter than expected.

In the U.K., meanwhile, Prime Minister Liz Truss defended her plan to cut taxes even though critics said it would worsen inflation. The plan had sent U.K. bond yields spiking, forcing the Bank of England on Wednesday to pledge to buy however many U.K. government bonds are needed to lower yields. The bond-buying announcement came just before the central bank had planned to do the opposite and sell some of the bonds it had purchased earlier to support the economy.

Even beyond the worries about central banks and rates, many other concerns continue to hang over markets.

A supercharged U.S. dollar has climbed so much so quickly against other currencies that investors worry something could break somewhere in global markets. Europe’s already struggling economy looks to be facing more pressure from high energy prices amid accusations that someone deliberately damaged pipelines delivering gas from Russia to Germany. And in the U.S., investors are concerned that one of the main levers setting stock prices may be under threat as corporate profits bend under higher interest rates, a slowing economy and high inflation.

CarMax, the auto seller, plunged 24.6% for the largest loss in the S&P 500 after it reported weaker profit than expected for the three months through August. It said the used auto market is tough generally, as higher interest rates make getting auto loans more expensive.

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Stocks on Wall Street shook off an afternoon slide and finished modestly higher Wednesday, clawing back some of their losses a day after the market’s worst skid in two years.

The wobbly trading came as investors weighed another snapshot of inflation. Markets have been on edge about the possibility of a recession after a string of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve this year as the central bank fights inflation.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3% after wavering between small gains and losses much of the afternoon. The benchmark index was coming off its biggest drop since June 2020, which ended a four-day winning streak.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.1% higher, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.7%. Smaller company stocks also rose, pushing the Russell 2000 to a 0.4% gain.

Bond yields remained relatively stable after leaping higher on Tuesday. The yield on the two-year Treasury rose to 3.79% from 3.75% late Tuesday, when it soared on expectations for more aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which helps dictate where mortgages and rates for other loans are heading, held steady at 3.41%.

A report on inflation at the wholesale level showed prices are still rising rapidly, with pressures building underneath the surface, even if overall inflation slowed. It echoed a report on inflation at the consumer level Tuesday, which raised expectations for interest-rate hikes and triggered a rout for markets.

Still, the overall decline in inflation at the wholesale level helped assuage fears in the market that inflation at all levels is intensifying, said Quincy Krosby, chief equity strategist for LPL Financial.

“The market would have probably had another round of selling had the headline number been higher,” Krosby said. “The fact that it dipped a bit was helpful for today’s market.”

Traders now see a one-in-four chance the Fed may hike its benchmark rate by a full percentage point next week, quadruple the usual move, according to CME Group. A day earlier, it was closer to a one-in-three chance. The site puts the probability of a three-quarter percentage point increase now at 76%, up from 69% on Tuesday.

The central bank has already raised its benchmark interest rate four times this year, with the last two increases by three-quarters of a percentage point.

The Fed is taking the aggressive action on interest rates to try and cool the hottest inflation in four decades. Tuesday’s report on high prices jolted the market with signs that inflation is entering a more stubborn phase that could require an already resolute Fed to become more aggressive.

Wall Street is especially worried that the rate hikes could go too far in slowing the economy and send it into a recession. The Fed is trying to avoid that outcome, but the latest inflation reports reveal that is becoming a more difficult task.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 13.32 points to 3,946.01, while the Dow added 30.12 points to 31,135.09. The Nasdaq gained 86.10 points to 11,719.68, and the Russell 2000 picked up 6.89 points to close at 1,838.46.

Energy stocks had some of the biggest gains as U.S. crude oil prices rose 1.3%. Exxon Mobil rose 2.5%.

“Today you have some investors coming off the sidelines, coming back into the market because there’s this feeling that the sell-off was a big one, there was a recalibration there, there was a little bit of panic selling there,” said Sylvia Jablonski, chief investment officer at Defiance ETFs.

The broader U.S. economy has been slowing, but consumers have remained resilient and the job market remains strong. Wall Street will get another update on inflation’s latest impact on spending when the government releases its retail sales report for August on Thursday.

The market is also monitoring U.S.-China tensions and war in Ukraine, while business and government officials are bracing for the possibility of a nationwide rail strike at the end of this week that could paralyze an already discombobulated supply chain.

The railroads have already started to curtail shipments of hazardous materials and have announced plans to stop hauling refrigerated products ahead of Friday’s strike deadline. Businesses that rely on Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, BNSF, CSX, Kansas City Southern and other railroads to deliver their raw materials and finished products are planning for the worst.

Union Pacific fell 3.7% and Norfolk Southern fell 2.2%.

Biden administration officials are scrambling to develop a plan to keep goods moving if the railroads shut down. The White House is also pressuring the two sides to settle their differences, and a growing number of business groups are lobbying Congress to be prepared to intervene and block a strike if they can’t reach an agreement.

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NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks climbed again Monday, as Wall Street made its final moves ahead of a high-stakes report that will hopefully show inflation hammered the economy less hard last month.

The S&P 500 rose 43.05, or 1.1%, to 4,110.41 for its fourth straight gain. That’s its longest winning streak since July, in the early days of the market’s bounce back from its battering earlier in the year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 229.63, or 0.7%, to 32,381.34, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 154.10, or 1.3%, to 12,266.41.

The nation’s punishingly high inflation, and the steps the Federal Reserve is taking to combat it, have been the driving forces on Wall Street all year. Economists expect a report on Tuesday to show that prices for consumers were 8.1% higher in August than a year earlier, but that inflation was not as bad as July’s 8.5% rate.

A slowdown would bolster hopes that inflation topped out in June at 9.1% and is on its way back down. That in turn could allow the Federal Reserve to avoid a worst-case scenario for markets, where it jacks short-term interest rates up to recession-causing levels and holds them there a long time.

“This week is going to be very telling,” said James Demmert, founder and managing partner at Main Street Research.

Beyond Tuesday’s headliner report on inflation at the consumer level, a report on Wednesday is expected to show inflation slowed at the wholesale level last month. A report the following day will show how U.S. households have altered their spending amid high inflation, while a Friday report will show how much inflation households are preparing for in upcoming years.

They’re all crucial data points for the Federal Reserve as it mulls how much to raise interest rates at its meeting next week. Fed officials have loudly reaffirmed recently their plans to raise rates enough to slow the economy, plus their commitment to keeping rates high for long enough to ensure the job is done on inflation.

But with Tuesday’s report possibly continuing a trend, many investors and economists are hopeful that inflation could return to more “normal” levels quickly, unlike the 1970s, when it took many years.

Jonathan Golub, chief U.S. equity strategist at Credit Suisse, wrote in a report that investors and economists expect inflation to collapse within the next 12 to 18 months.

Markets are fairly convinced the Fed will hike its key short-term interest rate by a hefty 0.75 percentage points next week for the third straight meeting. But the hope is that an easing of inflation will allow the Federal Reserve to successfully tiptoe the narrow pathway for a “soft landing” of the economy.

That’s where higher rates slow the economy enough to halt inflation but not so much as to cause a scarring recession. Higher rates hurt the economy by making it more expensive to buy a house, a car or anything else bought on credit. They also push down on prices for stocks, bonds and other investments.

Many traders are forecasting the Fed will begin downshifting the size of its rate increases after next week through the end of the year, before potentially keeping rates steady through the first half of 2023.

Of course, such hopes could also be setting Wall Street up for disappointment. The economy has given head fakes on inflation before, with hopes percolating that a peak has passed only to begin accelerating again.

Demmert said the broader market is looking for inflation to not just peak, but to start cooling meaningfully. He said the strong hopes for Tuesday’s inflation report are likely “not going to be healthy for stocks.”

Wall Street economists are still split on whether the U.S. economy will fall into a recession next year because of higher interest rates and other factors.

The Fed has already raised short-term rates four times this year, and its aggressive moves have helped the value of the U.S. dollar soar against many other foreign currencies.

A strong dollar helps to limit inflation at home by pushing down on prices for commodities and imports, but it can also hurt profits for U.S. companies that have a lot of sales coming from overseas. The dollar gave up some of its gains on Monday after slipping against the euro, British pound and several others.

Treasury yields were mixed. The 10-year Treasury yield, which helps control where mortgages and rates for other loans are heading, is back at 3.34%, close to its highest level in more than a decade.

The two-year yield, which tends to track expectations for Fed action, held steady at 3.56%. It remains close to its highest level since before the 2008 financial crisis.

In the stock market, the vast majority of stocks rallied. Energy producers were close to the top of the leaderboard, benefiting from climbing oil prices.

Bristol-Myers Squibb gained 3.1% for one of the biggest gains in the S&P 500 after federal regulators approved its treatment for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

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Another broad stock market sell-off on Monday deepened Wall Street’s losses from last week, leaving the S&P 500 with its biggest slide since mid-June.

The benchmark index fell 2.1%, nearly doubling its losses from last week, when it broke a four-week winning streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 1.9% and the Nasdaq dropped 2.5%.

Technology companies and retailers had some of the heaviest losses. Smaller company stocks also lost ground, pulling the Russell 2000 index 2.1% lower.

The latest market slide comes as investors grapple with uncertainty over when the highest inflation in decades will ease significantly, how much will the Federal Reserve have to raise interest rates in order to get it under control and how much will the rate hikes slow the economy.

Wall Street will be looking for insight into these unknowns later this week, when the Federal Reserve holds its annual meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

“Volatility spiked as investors are increasingly nervous about what they might hear from officials at the Fed’s upcoming Jackson Hole symposium,” said Jeffrey Roach, chief economist for LPL Financial.

The S&P 500 fell 90.49 points to 4,137.99. The Dow lost 643.13 points to close at 33,063.61, while the Nasdaq fell 323.64 points to 12,381.57. The Russell 2000 gave up 41.60 points to 1,915.74.

Some 95% of the stocks in the S&P 500 fell. Technology companies, retailers, banks and communications services stocks accounted for a big share of the index’s slide. Microsoft fell 2.9% and Target fell 3%. JPMorgan dropped 1.7% and Netflix slid 6.1%.

Movie theater operators also fell in choppy trading following news that Cineworld is considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The industry is still struggling to recover from the virus pandemic. AMC Entertainment fell 5.5% and Cinemark fell 5.8%.

Bright spots in the market included Signify Health, which jumped 32.1% after The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon would bid for the company.

Bond yields gained ground. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which influences rates on home mortgages and other loans, rose to 3.03% from 2.97% late Friday.

The broader market’s losses come on the heels of a weekslong rally. Investors are trying to figure out where the economy goes from here as stubbornly hot inflation hurts businesses and consumers. Record-high inflation also has investors focusing on central banks and their efforts to fight high prices without further damaging economic growth.

“You’ve had quite a rally and there’s reason to not be sure where we’re going from here,” said Tom Martin, senior portfolio manager with Globalt Investments. “There’s still decent potential for a recession.”

Minutes last week from the Federal Reserve’s July board meeting affirmed plans for more rate hikes despite signs of weaker economic activity. Traders worry aggressive steps to slow the economy might go too far and bring on a recession. The U.S. economy has already contracted through the first half of 2022 and Wall Street will get more information on Thursday when the government releases an updated report on the U.S. economy for the second quarter.

Investors are also looking ahead to this week’s Federal Reserve conference for signals about more possible U.S. rate hikes to cool surging inflation. Fed Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to give a speech on Friday morning at the central bank’s annual meeting in Jackson Hole, which starts Thursday.

The Fed is holding its meeting following a heavy week of company and economic data that showed inflation is still squeezing the economy, but consumer spending remains resilient. Falling gasoline and food commodity prices, for wheat and corn, have helped relieve some of that pressure. That helped essentially stall inflation’s advance in July, though prices still remain stubbornly high.

“I don’t think we’re out of the woods yet on inflation,” Martin said. “We still don’t really know how inflation is going to pan out and what the Fed is going to do.”

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Major stock indexes on Wall Street gave up early gains and ended a choppy day of trading little changed Monday.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq each slipped 0.1% after shedding gains of 1% and 1.6%, respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.1% higher.

Small-company stocks outpaced the broader market in a sign that investors were confident about the economy. The Russell 2000 rose 1%.

The market’s latest gyrations came as investors prepare for a busy week of economic updates that could help answer whether the Federal Reserve’s efforts to cool the economy and quell inflation are working, or whether the central bank will continue aggressively raising interest rates. Wall Street is worried that the Fed could hit the brakes too hard and cause a recession.

“Early indications of inflationary pressures appear to be easing, which will be an important catalyst for the market,” said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist for LPL Financial.

The S&P 500 fell 5.13 points to 4,140.06, while the Nasdaq slid 13.10 points to 12,644.46. The Dow added 29.07 points to close at 32,832.54. The Russell 2000 rose 19.38 points to 1,941.21.

The benchmark S&P 500 index is coming off three consecutive weekly gains. Investors remain focused on inflation and its impact on businesses and consumers, along with the Federal Reserve’s efforts to fight higher prices. The central bank has been aggressively raising interest rates to pump the brakes on economic growth and rein in record-high inflation. The Fed is expected to hike short-term interest rates by another 0.75 percentage points at its next meeting.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Monday released a survey of consumer expectations from July showing that there were “substantial declines” in inflation expectations for everything from food and gas to home prices.

The Labor Department will release its July report for consumer prices on Wednesday, followed by its report for prices at the wholesale level on Thursday.

This week’s inflation updates follow reports last week showing the employment market remains strong. While that’s good for the economy, it has complicated the job of the Fed, which may be forced to continue with aggressive interest rate hikes intended to cool the economy and soaring inflation.

Investors are still reviewing the latest round of corporate earnings, which could also provide more details on how hard inflation is hitting consumers and businesses. Nvidia fell 6.3% for one of the biggest declines in the S&P 500 after it warned investors that its second-quarter revenue will fall short of forecasts because of weaker gaming revenue.

Generic drugmaker Viatris rose 3.7% after beating Wall Street’s second-quarter earnings and revenue forecasts.

Technology stocks were the biggest drag on the market Monday, outweighing modest gains in other sectors. Pricey stocks in the sector tend to push the market higher or lower with more weight. Microsoft fell 0.9%.

Retailers and communications stocks were among the biggest winners. Best Buy rose 2.8% and Facebook’s parent, Meta Platforms, rose 1.9%.

Clean energy companies gained ground following the Senate’s approval for Democrats’ big election-year economic package, which includes funding to help fight climate change. First Solar rose 4.7%.

Bond yields fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which influences interest rates on mortgages and other consumer loans, slipped to 2.76% from 2.83% late Friday.

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NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks dipped Tuesday following another day of meandering trading, as Wall Street debates whether the market’s strong recent run is the start of a turnaround or just a temporary blip.

The S&P 500 fell 27.44, or 0.7%, to 4,091.19 after drifting between a loss of 0.9% and a gain of 0.5% through the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped even more, losing 402.23, or 1.2%, to 32,396.17, largely because of a tumble for equipment maker Caterpillar. The Nasdaq composite held up better but still slipped 20.22, or 0.2%, to 12,348.76.

Treasury yields climbed through the day as concerns calmed a bit that the first visit by a U.S. Speaker of the House to Taiwan in 25 years could spark conflict between the world’s two largest economies. Analysts also cited comments by Federal Reserve officials that suggested continued hikes to interest rates are coming in order to knock down inflation.

The S&P 500 is down nearly 1% so far this week after spurting in July to its best month since late 2020. It was a rare winning stretch for the market, which has struggled this year under worries about the highest inflation in 40 years and rising interest rates from the Federal Reserve to combat it.

Some weak recent data on the economy heightened speculation that the peak for inflation and for the Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate hikes may be approaching or has already passed. The weak data, though, also shows the risk of a recession as the Fed puts the brake on the economy.

A report on Tuesday showed that U.S. employers posted fewer job openings in June, and the number was weaker than economists expected. A lot rides on whether the job market can remain resilient. It’s been helping to prop up the economy as inflation tears into the finances of households across the country.

On Friday, a report will show how many workers U.S. employers added last month, and economists expect it to show the unemployment rate remains very low even as hiring slowed.

More support for Wall Street recently has come from stronger-than-expected corporate profits for the spring. On Tuesday, rideshare company Uber surged 18.9% after it reported stronger revenue than analysts expected.

Other better-than-expected reports so far this earnings season have helped the S&P 500 climb 11.6% since hitting a low in mid June. Such rallies of more than 10% have historically been common within long-term down markets, though more sharp drops can quickly follow them. Since 1929, “bear markets,” which are what Wall Street calls a long-term drop of 20% or more for stocks, have seen an average of 1.5 such “bear market rallies,” strategists wrote in a BofA Global Research report. Savita Subramanian wrote in the report that she is sticking with her year-end target of 3,600 for the S&P 500, which would imply a further 12% drop.

One discouraging signal for investors came Tuesday from a profit report by Caterpillar, seen by some on Wall Street as an economic bellwether. Its stock fell 5.8% after the Illinois-based maker of backhoes and bulldozers reported weaker revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

Much of Wall Street’s focus Tuesday was also centered across the Pacific Ocean on U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose plane touched down in Taiwan a little after trading began in New York. Her visit ratchets up tensions with China, which claims Taiwan as its own and quickly announced it would conduct military maneuvers in retaliation for her presence.

The worry in financial markets is that tensions could boil over, leading to blockages in international trade. China and Taiwan are together the source of half the semiconductor chips consumed by the world “and almost all of the latest high-tech chips,” High Frequency Economics chief economist Carl Weinberg wrote in a report.

Treasury yields fell in the morning with the worries but recovered as the day progressed. The 10-year yield rose to 2.75% from 2.61% late Monday.

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NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street took another sharp swing Wednesday, this time back to rally mode, as stocks and Treasury yields rose even as U.S. crude oil prices climbed to the highest level in more than a decade.

The S&P 500 rose 1.9%, recouping its losses from earlier in the week, after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said he supports a more modest rise in interest rates this month than some investors had feared. He also said he still expects inflation, which is at its highest level in 40 years, to moderate through the year.

“Although we’ve had some Fed governors lately saying ‘Oh my God, this is such a huge crisis,’ the conventional wisdom is slow and steady wins the race right now,” said J.J. Kinahan, chief strategist with TD Ameritrade.

The comments helped drive the market higher, adding to modest gains from earlier in the morning. Other areas of the market also gained ground a day after worries about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent the S&P 500 tumbling 1.5% and prices soaring for all kinds of commodities.

Treasury yields climbed after falling sharply earlier this week as investors clamored for safety. Gold receded, and a measure of nervousness among stock investors on Wall Street eased after swinging sharply in recent days.

“We’ve seen wild swings, but not major changes in the indexes,” said Jeff Kleintop, chief global investment strategist at Charles Schwab. “Geopolitical conflicts can be very unsettling, but you don’t tend to get bear markets from these, just periods of volatility.”

Markets have been spinning wildly as investors try, sometimes blindly, to gauge how high Russia’s attack on Ukraine will push prices for oil, wheat and other commodities where the region is a major producer. On top of that are worries about what upcoming hikes in interest rates by the Federal Reserve and other central banks around the world will do to the economy and inflation.

Powell said in testimony to Congress that the Fed is set to raise its key interest rate for the first time since 2018. But he also said the attack on Ukraine may have muddied conditions, with its impact on the U.S. economy “highly uncertain,” adding that “we’re never on autopilot.”

The Fed is balancing a tightrope where it needs to raise interest rates enough to rein in the highest inflation in generations but not so much that it pushes the economy into a recession. All the while, higher interest rates tend to put downward pressure on stocks and most other investments.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury leaped to 1.89% from 1.72% late Tuesday, while the two-year Treasury surged to 1.53% from 1.31%. Yields, though, remain well below where they were before Russia’s invasion. The 10-year yield was above 2% last month, before it plunged as investors plowed into investments seen as safer amid worries about war.

The price of U.S. oil jumped another 7% to $110.60 per barrel, the highest level in just over a decade. Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 7.6% to $112.93 per barrel.

Leaders of OPEC and other major oil-producing countries decided Wednesday to stick with their plan to gradually increase oil production. The OPEC+ coalition of oil producers, made up of OPEC members led by Saudi Arabia and non-cartel members led by Russia, chose to increase oil production by 400,000 barrels per day in April.

The move follows a perhaps less impactful decision by the United States and other major governments in the International Energy Agency to release 60 million barrels from strategic reserves to boost supplies.

“Markets dismissed the notion that 60 million barrels of strategic reserves released will be consequential to the risks of Russian supply jeopardized,” Tan Boon Heng of Mizuho Bank said in a report. “Russia pumps more than that in just six days.”

In the stock market, all the uncertainty about oil prices and inflation has led to big swings not only by the day but also by the hour. The S&P 500 swung between gains of 0.4% and 2.2% Wednesday. It closed 80.28 points higher to 4,386.54.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 596.40 points, or 1.8%, to 33,891.35, while the Nasdaq composite gained 219.56 points, or 1.6%, to 13,752.02.

More than 90% of stocks in the S&P 500 rose, with technology, financial and health care companies accounting for a big share of the rally. Bank stocks led the gainers, climbing 2.6%, as higher longer-term interest rates can mean bigger profits for them making loans. Energy stocks also helped lift the index as they rode higher energy prices.

Ross Stores climbed 6.1% after the retail chain reported stronger profit for its last quarter than analysts expected.

Ford jumped 8.4% after it said it was accelerating its transformation into an electric-vehicle company and split its EV and internal combustion operations into two individual businesses.

Stock markets around the world were mixed. France’s CAC 40 rose 1.6%, Germany’s DAX returned 0.7% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.7%.

Russia’s central bank said stock trading on the Moscow exchange would remain closed Wednesday for a third day, though trading of currencies and precious metals would resume for the first time this week.

Late Tuesday, President Joe Biden announced he was joining U.S. allies in closing the country’s air space to Russian aircraft, the latest in a set of sanctions and other measures meant to isolate Russia.

But Biden also said in his annual State of the Union speech that he would try to cushion Americans against the impact of higher oil prices. “I will use every tool at our disposal to protect American businesses and consumers,” Biden said.

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NEW YORK (AP) — Love cryptocurrencies or hate the very idea of them, they’re becoming more mainstream by the day.

Cryptocurrencies have surged so much that their total value has reached nearly $2.5 trillion, rivaling the world’s most valuable company, Apple, and have amassed more than 200 million users. At that size, it’s simply too big for the financial establishment to ignore.

Firms that cater to the world’s wealthiest families are increasingly putting some of their fortunes into crypto. Hedge funds are trading Bitcoin, which has big-name banks starting to offer them services around it. PayPal lets users buy crypto on its app, while Twitter helps people show appreciation for tweets by tipping their creators with Bitcoin.

And in the latest milestone for the industry, an easy-to-trade fund tied to Bitcoin began trading on Tuesday. Investors can buy the exchange-traded fund from ProShares through an old-school brokerage account, without having to learn what a hot or cold wallet is.

It’s all part of a movement across big businesses that see a chance to profit on the fervor around the world of crypto, as a new ecosystem further builds up around it, whether they believe in it or not.

“The one thing you can say for certain is that the advent of the era of the Bitcoin ETF opens up the opportunity for Wall Street to make money on Bitcoin in a way that it hadn’t been able to previously,” said Ben Johnson, director of global ETF research at Morningstar. “The winners in all of this are the exchanges and the asset managers and the custodians. Whether investors win or not is a big, bold question mark.”

Bitcoin has come a long way since someone or a group of someones under the name Satoshi Nakamoto wrote a paper in 2008 about how to harness computing power around the world to create a digital currency that can’t be double-spent. The price has more than doubled this year alone to roughly $62,000. It was at only $635 five years ago.

Supporters of cryptocurrencies say they offer an ultra-important benefit for any investor: something whose price moves independently of the economy, rather than tracking it like so many other investments do. More high-minded fans say digital assets are simply the future of finance, allowing transactions to sidestep middlemen and fees with a currency that’s not beholden to any government.

Critics, meanwhile, question whether crypto is just a fad, say it uses too much energy and point to all the stiff regulatory scrutiny shining on it. China last month declared Bitcoin transactions illegal, for example. The chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler, said in August that the world of crypto doesn’t have enough investor protection and “it’s more like the Wild West.”

That hasn’t been enough to halt the immense momentum for crypto, as it’s gone from an online curiosity to a bigger part of the cultural and corporate landscape.

U.S. Bank earlier this month said it has begun offering a cryptocurrency custody service for big investment managers. That means it essentially holds their Bitcoin in safekeeping for them, and it expects to offer support for other coins soon.

Other name-brand banks have also announced intentions to offer custodial services for crypto.

“It’s not just in the fringes and dark corners of the Web that it’s happening,” said Kashif Ahmed, president of American Private Wealth in Bedford, Massachusetts.

Ahmed doesn’t recommend his clients invest in crypto. Before then, he said he’ll need to be able to “go to my local supermarket and buy things for my family and offer crypto and not be laughed out of the store.”

But others are more willing to try it.

In a survey by Citi Private Bank of family offices around the world that manage money for wealthy people, roughly 23% said they have made some investments in crypto. Another 25% said they are researching it.

The growing acceptance of crypto on Wall Street has created a new crop of darlings that help people buy it. Crypto trading platform Coinbase has a market value of roughly $64 billion, for example, putting it on par with such established companies as Colgate-Palmolive, FedEx and Ford Motor.

At Robinhood Markets, meanwhile, the company that became famous for getting a new generation of investors into the stock market is increasingly becoming a place for crypto trading. This spring was the first time when new Robinhood customers were more likely to make their first trade in cryptocurrencies rather than in stocks.

In the end, what many on Wall Street see lasting may not be as much Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as the technology that underlies them.

Called the blockchain, it allows for a public ledger that everyone can check and trust, and many expect it to lead to a wealth of innovations. It’s akin to today’s Netflix, Facebook and other services that sprung out of the infrastructure built during the boom and bust of the dot-com bubble.

“The applications built on this new software architecture appear to be growing more quickly than past technologies,” Bank of America strategists Alkesh Shah and Andrew Moss wrote in a recent research report positing digital assets are only in their first inning of growth. “New companies are likely to emerge and poorly positioned companies will exit, creating significant upside potential for some and downside for others.”

JPMorgan Chase, for example, is already using blockchain technology to improve fund transfers between global banks. That’s the same JPMorgan Chase run by CEO Jamie Dimon, who said in an interview with Axios this month that bitcoin has “got no intrinsic value.”

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The Kospi in South Korea advanced 0.9% to 3,264.78 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 1.5% to 26,589.87. The Shanghai Composite index gained 0.3% to 3,458.31.

Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 was also 0.3% higher at 7,497.40. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.1% to 27,612.29, however. Shares edged higher in Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines but fell in Malaysia.

Traders are awaiting U.S. jobs data due Friday. They are also watching the coronavirus’ delta variant spreading in the U.S., Europe and Asia, and particularly in China.

Although China’s recent outbreak is small, infecting hundreds rather than the thousands and tens of thousands of people sickened in outbreaks elsewhere, it is by far the worst China has had since the pandemic’s emergence in the central city of Wuhan a year and a half ago.

“The small but significant rise in cases in China is grabbing attention,” Robert Carnell of ING said in a note.

“Tough restrictions on movement and travel already in place will likely bring the desired results. But the delta variant is a particularly slippery little critter, and the concern for us, and we imagine, many others, is how quickly this will occur, and at what economic cost in the meantime,” he said.

Over on Wall Street, technology and health care companies spurred indexes higher on Tuesday. The S&P 500 overcame a wobbly start to finish 0.8% higher, at 4,423.15.

Earnings have boosted sentiments. Roughly nine out of 10 companies on the S&P 500 index have posted earnings that beat analysts’ expectations. Over a 100 more companies will table reports this week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.8% to 35,116.40, while the Nasdaq composite picked up 0.6% to 14,761.29. The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks rose 0.4% to 2,223.58.

Some traders sold US-listed Chinese companies. E-commerce giant Alibaba Group slipped 1.4% and internet search giant Baidu Inc. fell 1.5% on Tuesday.

Games and social media giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. plunged 7.3%. Its Hong Kong-listed shares added 2.5% on Wednesday.

Concerns are brewing over the China’s crackdown on technology, Edward Moya of Oanda said. “US-listed Chinese companies are getting battered as some investors don’t have the stomach for this regulatory shakedown,” he added.

In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude lost 19 cents to $70.37 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the price basis for international oils, shed 5 cents to $72.36 per barrel in London.

The U.S. dollar retreated to 109.04 Japanese yen from 109.05 yen on Tuesday. The euro rose to $1.1875 from $1.1868.

ANNABELLE LIANG | AP NEWS

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U.S. stocks notched more gains and pushed to new highs Monday, extending a winning streak that just gave the market its best weekly gain since November.

The S&P 500 rose 0.7%, it’s sixth straight gain. The three major indexes climbed to an all-time high, as did a benchmark of smaller company stocks. Technology and financial stocks helped lead the broad rally. Energy sector companies surged the most following a 2% jump in the price of U.S. crude oil. Treasury yields mostly rose.

Investors have been encouraged by surprisingly good corporate earnings reports, news that a recent surge in new coronavirus cases is easing, and progress in the distribution of vaccines.

“The resilience of the corporate sector has been resounding,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird. “The path of least resistance is still higher.”

The S&P 500 rose 28.76 points to 3,915.59. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 237.52 points, or 0.8%, to 31,385.76. The Nasdaq composite climbed 131.35 points, or1%, to 13,987.64.

Small-company stocks continued to far outpace the rest of the market, a sign investors are feeling optimistic about the economy. The Russell 2000 index rose 56.43 points, or 2.5%, to 2,289.76.

President Biden and Congressional Democrats appear to be moving forward with their own version of a coronavirus stimulus bill that is estimated to cost $1.9 trillion. The Senate and House took procedural steps late last week to pass the bill using a process known as reconciliation, which only requires 51 votes in the Senate. The Senate is split 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris the tiebreaking vote.

“Looks like they’ll get a package together and get it through probably in mid-March, which is when you start to see those emergency pandemic programs expire,” said Tom Hainlin, national investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.

In another sign of optimism, Treasury yields continued to push mostly higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.17% from 1.15% late Friday, more than double where it was six months ago. While there have been near-zero signs of inflation in recent months, investors believe improving economic fortunes and trillions of dollars in stimulus could make stocks more attractive, and therefore make bond yields rise as their prices fall.

Energy stocks were among the big winners Monday. Marathon Oil notched the biggest gain in the S&P 500, vaulting 12.1%. Occidental Petroleum surged 12.81%.

Tesla rose 1.3% after the company said it purchased $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and pIans to allow customers to pay for their electric vehicles with the digital currency. Bitcoin was up 13.2% to $43,252, according to digital currency brokerage Coinbase.

Investors continue to watch shares of GameStop, AMC Entertainment and other beaten-down companies who have been a focus of online investors the last several weeks. GameStop shares fell 5.9% to $60 after shedding an early gain. The stock had a massive drop last week. Just this month GameStop shares are down more than 81%.

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