Calm returns to Wall Street, and stocks bounce back after their worst drop in nearly 2 years

STAN CHOE

A rising tide swept stocks higher, and calm returned to Wall Street after Japan’s market soared earlier Tuesday to claw back much of the losses from its worst day since 1987.

The S&P 500 climbed 1% to break a brutal three-day losing streak. It had tumbled a bit more than 6% on a raft of concerns, including worries the Federal Reserve had pressed the brakes too hard for too long on the U.S. economy through high interest rates in order to beat inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 294 points, or 0.8%, while the Nasdaq composite gained 1%. Stocks of all kinds climbed in a mirror opposite of the day before, from smaller companies that need U.S. households to keep spending to huge multinationals more dependent on the global economy.

Stronger-than-expected profit reports from several big U.S. companies helped drive the market. Kenvue, the company behind Tylenol