Global markets are still trying to stabilize after a turbulent couple of weeks.
Asian stocks mostly headed higher Tuesday, with major indexes in Hong Kong and Shanghai up more than 1% in afternoon trading.
But the gains weren’t across the board.
Japan’s Nikkei started the day strongly before sliding into the red in the afternoon, losing 0.5%. Dow futures were also dipping slightly into negative territory, showing a 0.3% decline at 12:45 a.m. ET.
On Monday in the United States, the Dow climbed a bit higher, gaining 1.7%, or 410 points.
Wall Street has started showing signs of calmer trading. After six straight days of 500-point swings, and often twice as much, the Dow remained in a relatively narrower trading range of about 450 points on Monday.
And the VIX, a closely watched measure of market volatility, fell 12% on Monday after spiking last week.
So far, the Dow has recovered more than a quarter of the 2,756 points it lost between the peak on January 26 and the closing low on Thursday.
The comeback on Monday put the Dow and S&P 500 down slightly for the year and the Nasdaq up 1.1% in 2018.
The stock market is likely to keep taking cues from the bond market. The 10-year Treasury yield, which reflects inflation worries, crept to a four-year high on Monday before backing off.
Still, many analysts say that the strong economy means that the losses, if they continue, shouldn’t go on for long.
— Sherisse Pham, Jethro Mullen and Matthew Egan contributed reporting to this story.