US stocks surge as market seeks to shake China turmoil

Wall Street equities surged higher early Wednesday as investors tried to snap a six-day losing streak prompted by turmoil in the Chinese stock market.

About 45 minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 15,995.25, up 328.81 points (2.10 percent).

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 38.65 (2.07 percent) to 1,906.26, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 97.05 (2.15 percent) at 4,603.53.

The buoyant start in the US recalled Tuesday's confident open, which evaporated in the last hour, pushing the S&P 500 down 1.35 percent.

Global markets were mixed Wednesday, with European stocks down somewhat and Japan's Nikkei rising 3.20 percent. The Shanghai index fell 1.27 percent as monetary stimulus by the Chinese central bank failed to prompt a turnaround.

US data showed new orders for durable manufactured goods rose solidly in July.

Schlumberger announced a $14.8 billion acquisition of oilfield equipment maker Cameron, the latest big transaction as oil prices linger near six and half year lows. Cameron rocketed 41.2 percent higher, while Schlumberger fell 5.2 percent.

The Schlumberger transaction "should ignite some bargain-hunting interest in the energy sector," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

O'Hare said Wednesday's open was impressive, but added, "it's not how you start, but how you finish."

All 30 members of the Dow rose, with especially strong gains by Apple (+2.6 percent), JPMorgan Chase (+2.4 percent) and Visa (+2.6 percent).

Large technology stocks, including Google (+4.7 percent) and Amazon (+2.8 percent), were in favor, as were biotech stocks Gilead Sciences (+1.8 percent) and Celgene (+2.2 percent).

Drilling company Transocean tumbled 2.5 percent after announcing it would suspend its dividend for the next two quarters and that it expects charges of about $2.1 billion due to the oil-industry downturn.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.14 percent from 2.09 percent Tuesday, while the 30-year advanced to 2.88 percent from 2.82 percent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.