Stocks move higher on Wall Street after 2 days of big losses

NEW YORK - Stocks in the U.S. are making broad gains Wednesday after two days of steep losses, and major European indexes are also recovering. Major technology companies including Apple and Microsoft are up after tumbling in the last few days. Crude oil prices gained 2 percent after they sank to a one-year low a day earlier.

Despite the rally, which includes retail, energy and industrial companies as well as tech and internet stocks, the S&P 500 is down about 2.7 percent so far this week.

KEEPING SCORE: The S&P 500 index gained 21 points, or 0.8 percent, to 2,663 as of 2:50 p.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 149 points, or 0.6 percent, to 24,614. The Nasdaq composite added 197 points, or 1.4 percent, to 7,006. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks surged 22 points, or 1.6 percent, to 1,491.

Trading was relatively light. U.S. markets will be closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday, and will be open for a half-day on Friday.

TECH TURNAROUND: Technology companies recovered a sliver of their recent losses. Adobe rose 3 percent to $226.40 and Salesforce.com gained 3 percent to $124.27. Design software maker Autodesk climbed 9.8 percent to $135.10 after a strong quarterly report. The company also said it is buying construction software company PlanGrid for $875 million.

Amazon rose 2 percent to $1,525 and Facebook jumped 2.8 percent to $136.18. Apple added 0.5 percent to $177.93.

Apple's market value has dropped by $260 billion since early October and Amazon has fallen by $246 billion since early September. Since late July, Facebook has lost nearly $240 billion since late July and Alphabet is down by $163 billion. That's $900 billion in value lost by just those four companies, more than any S&P 500 company is worth. Apple is the most valuable company on the index and is currently worth about $845 billion.

THE QUOTE: Alec Young, managing director of global markets research at FTSE Russell, said the market has tumbled this fall because growth in the global economy and in company profits is slowing down, and investors are worried that the situation will get worse.

Young said Wall Street essentially has a two-item wish list for the holidays: a general trade agreement between the U.S. and China, and a sign the Fed will raise interest rates at a more gradual clip. Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are scheduled to discuss the trade situation at a Group of 20 summit at the end of this month.

"All they have to do is agree on a high-level framework that can delay the increase in the tariffs," Young said. "If the Fed is more dovish and we get some positive news on China, we can have a solid end to the year."

IF THE SHOE FITS: Retailer Foot Locker jumped 14.9 percent to $52.94 after its third-quarter profit and revenue surpassed Wall Street's expectations. The company said sales broke out of a slump and prices also rose. Foot Locker added that it expects strong sales over the holidays.

That contributed to a rebound for retailers after they dropped on Tuesday. Home improvement company Lowe's gained 2.9 percent to $88.70 and Nike rose 2 percent to $72.53.

ENERGY: Oil prices rebounded Wednesday as benchmark U.S. crude gained 2.2 percent to $54.63 a barrel in New York. It fell 6.6 percent on Tuesday. Brent crude, the international standard traded in London, rose 1.5 percent to $63.48 a barrel.

Exxon Mobil jumped 1.4 percent to $78.02 and Chevron rose 2.1 percent to $118.51.

Crude prices have plunged since early October as global stockpiles surged. Production increased after the U.S. said it would re-impose sanctions on Iran's energy sector, but it later granted waivers that allowed many countries that buy oil from Iran to continue making those purchases. If the global economy slows significantly, that would also reduce demand for oil.

BONDS: Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.06 percent from 3.04 percent. That sent interest rates higher, which helped banks. Citigroup jumped 1.5 percent to $63.34 and Bank of America rose 0.6 percent to $27.54.

Utilities and other high-dividend stocks also declined. Those companies have done better than the rest of the market during turbulent trading in October and November, but when the market makes a broad rebound they usually get left behind. Coca-Cola fell 1.1 percent to $48.83 and Duke Energy lost 2.4 percent to $86.42.

OTHER COMMODITIES: Wholesale gasoline rose 1 percent to $1.51 a gallon. Heating oil lost 1 percent to $1.97 a gallon. Natural gas fell 1.6 percent to $4.45 per 1,000 cubic feet. Gold gained 0.6 percent to $1,228 an ounce. Silver added 1.6 percent to $14.50 an ounce. Copper rose 1 percent to $2.79 a pound.

CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 113.06 yen from 112.40 yen. The euro edged down to $1.1392 from $1.1399.

OVERSEAS: Germany's DAX jumped 1.6 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.5 percent and the CAC 40 in France added 1 percent.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 dropped 0.4 percent and the Kospi in South Korea was down 0.3 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.5 percent.

AP Markets Writer Marley Jay can be reached at http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP