Wall Street rebounded from earlier losses as pressure eased in the bond market on Thursday. The S&P 500 rose 0.3% in afternoon trading, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained less than 0.1%. The Nasdaq composite was up 0.8%, with Big Tech stocks leading the way, including a 2.9% climb for Apple. Fastenal saw the biggest gain in the S&P 500, jumping 5.9% after reporting a bigger quarterly profit than analysts expected. These gains helped offset a warning from Humana that higher costs would eat into its profit, causing the insurer to tumble 10.2%.

　　Stocks were steadier overall as Treasury yields slowed their climb from earlier in the week. Yields had been increasing due to traders pushing back forecasts for how soon the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates. Higher yields undercut stock prices and raised pressure on the economy.

　　The Fed has indicated that it may cut rates several times in 2024 due to cooling inflation since its peak two summers ago, which may not require as tight a leash on the economy and financial system. However, critics believe that Wall Street's expectations have gone overboard in terms of how many cuts the Fed will deliver this year and how soon it would begin. This in turn may have sent stock prices too high and Treasury yields too low since their big moves began last autumn.

　　The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.14% from 4.11% late Wednesday. It had begun the week at 3.95%. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which moves more on expectations for Fed action, eased to 4.33% from 4.36%.

　　While the number of US workers applying for unemployment benefits fell last week to its lowest level since two Septembers ago, which is good news for workers and the economy overall, a stronger-than-expected job market could also keep upward pressure on inflation. This would lessen the chances of the Federal Reserve cutting rates as soon as its March meeting.

　　Reports on the economy were mixed on Thursday, with one showing manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region is contracting by more than expected and another revealing that homebuilders broke ground on more projects last month than economists expected, albeit weaker than November's level. Stocks of homebuilders were mixed following the report.

　　Several financial companies reported weaker results for the end of 2023 than analysts expected, causing Discover Financial Services to fall 10.3% and KeyCorp to lose 5.7% on Wall Street.

　　Indexes across much of Europe and Asia rose, trimming their losses for the week so far.