Stocks rose in the United States on Wednesday, rebounding from a late decline on Tuesday.
In early trading the Dow Jones industrial average was up 49.58 points, or 0.5 percent, at 10,073.60. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index was up 6.33 points, or 0.6 percent, at 1,077.04, and the Nasdaq composite index was up 15.02 points, or 0.7 percent, at 2,237.35.
Prior to the opening on Wall Street, stocks were lower in Europe and Asia, as BP led oil and gas shares lower. The Japanese market sagged after Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama announced his resignation.
In afternoon trading, the Euro Stoxx 50 index, a barometer of euro-zone blue chips, fell 1.5 percent, while the FTSE 100 index in London fell 1 percent.
BP fell 2.2 percent in London, adding to a 13 percent decline Tuesday. The United States attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., said Tuesday that federal authorities had opened criminal and civil investigations into the Deepwater Horizon explosion, adding to the company’s troubles as it seeks to stop the worst oil spill in American history.
BP rebounded in early United States trading, rising 60 cents, to $37.12 a share.
The Tokyo benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average closed 1.1 percent lower, as analysts worried that Mr. Hatoyama’s departure would further complicate Japan’s economic policy-making.
“The government has said it will map out a growth strategy and fiscal reform plan in June, but everything will have to start from scratch under a new leader,” Yasuhide Yajima, senior economist at NLI Research Institute, told Reuters. “Usually that kind of delay would be a concern for markets.”
Most Asian markets closed lower. The main Sydney market index, the S&P/ASX 200, fell 0.7 percent. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index slipped 0.1 percent, but in Shanghai the composite index eked out a 0.1 percent gain.
Even with the recent declines in global stock markets, wealthy investors in Asia remain on average significantly less pessimistic than those elsewhere about the global economic recovery, according to a global survey of affluent individuals that was presented by analysts at Barclays Wealth in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
Given that much of Asia — notably China and India — is growing rapidly, this relative optimism is “reasonable,” they said.
Still, Manpreet Gill, Asia strategist at Barclays Wealth, noted “there’s a lot of nervousness out there,” adding that it would be hard to say when equity markets had bottomed out.
The dollar was mixed against other major currencies. The euro slipped to $1.2218 from $1.2229 late Tuesday, while the British pound rose to $1.4661 from $1.4651.
The dollar rose to 91.95 yen from 90.94 yen.
United States crude oil futures for July delivery rose 19 cents, to $73.10 a barrel.
