The three major US indexes dropped six days in a row heading into today. That's the longest market slide in more than three years. The Dow had fallen about 1,900 points over that period, while the slump wiped more than USD 2 trillion off the value of S&P 500 companies.
Today was the second day that stocks had staged a rally.
A strong rebound had yesterday evaporated in the final minutes of trading and the Dow ended more than 200 points lower after having been up more than 400 earlier in the day.
Markets have been volatile since China decided to weaken its currency earlier this month. Investors interpreted the move as an attempt to bolster a sagging economy.
Traders are also jittery about the outlook for interest rates. The Federal Reserve has signaled it could raise its key interest rate for the first time in nearly a decade later this year. The Fed isn't expected to deliver a policy update until it wraps up a meeting of policymakers in mid-September.