US stocks rebounded in afternoon trading on Wednesday to end little changed as energy shares and Apple bounced back, offseting continued concerns about a slowdown in China. The S&P energy index climbed 1.9 percent, the S&P 500's biggest positive, as investors grabbed energy companies shares, encouraged by a bounce up in oil prices from six-year lows hit the previous session. Energy companies have reeled in recent weeks on concerns about China, a top consumer of energy and commodities.
Apple, for which China is a key market, also reversed course after falling more than 3 percent earlier to its lowest since January. It ended up 1.5 percent at $115.24 and was the biggest positive factor for all three major indexes. Stocks had tumbled early in the session after China's currency hit a four-year low, its second session of decline.
The Dow moved nearly 300 points from its low of the day to its high before closing flat. The S&P 500 briefly dipped into negative territory for the year during the session, and traded below its 200-day moving average, before bouncing back. The S&P 500 ended above that technical support level and up for the year so far.
"China is a huge wild card both in terms of the rate at which it's slowing but also how the leadership is handling it," said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president at BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama. "The reversal today is bullish ... at least in the short term."
Among sectors, financial shares declined the most, with the S&P financial index down 0.8 percent. China's currency move has created more uncertainty over how soon the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates, analysts said. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.33 points to 17,402.51, the S&P 500 gained 1.98 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,086.05 and the Nasdaq Composite added 7.60 points, or 0.15 percent, to 5,044.39.
The CBOE Volatility index, a measure of the premium traders are willing to pay for protection against a drop in the S&P 500, also reversed course. It jumped as much as 18.7 percent to 16.28, its highest in a month, before ending down 0.7 percent. Alibaba was down 5.1 percent at $73.38 after hitting an all-time low of $71.03 after revenue growth slowed at China's biggest e-commerce company. Yahoo , which has a 15 percent stake in Alibaba, fell 4.3 percent to $34.49.
Macy's fell 5.1 percent to $64.11 after it also reported weak quarterly sales. After the bell, shares of Cisco Systems rose 3.7 percent. Results of the network equipment maker beat estimates as demand recovered for its switching equipment and routers. During the session, NYSE decliners outnumbered advancers by 1.02-to-1; on the Nasdaq, 1,564 issues fell and 1,229 advanced. The S&P 500 posted 10 new 52-week highs and 19 lows; the Nasdaq recorded 30 new highs and 120 lows. About 8.2 billion shares changed hands on US exchanges, above the 7.0 billion daily average so far this month, according to BATS Global Markets.