US: Stocks recover after historic falls

[NEW YORK] US stock markets bounced after a torrid opening on Tuesday, bargain-hunters and gains for Apple pushing the tech-heavy Nasdaq and the Dow Jones Industrial Average into positive territory after two days of heavy losses.

Both the S&P 500 and the Dow sank more than 4 per cent on Monday, their biggest falls since August 2011, as concerns over rising US interest rates and government bond yields hit record-high valuations of stocks.

New York's three main indexes sank as much as 2 per cent on the opening bell but they quickly moved back into positive territory.

An almost 2 per cent gain for Apple was at the heart of an almost half percent gain for the Nasdaq Composite.

"Daily drops of 3 percent or more have been buying opportunities for the S&P 500 post financial crisis," said Lori Calvasina, head of U.S. equity strategy at RBC Capital Markets.

At 9.49 am ET (1449 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.25 per cent to 24,406.14. The S&P 500 rose 0.2 percent to 2,654.25 and the Nasdaq 0.4 per cent to 6,993.47.

REUTERS