Wall St rebound continues on Big Tech relief rally; S&P, Nasdaq rise, Yen slips

In US Treasuries, yields rose before the Treasury Department's auction of $42 billion in 10-year notes. Investor appetite for stocks reduced demand for safe-haven US debt.

Top indices on Wall Street's opened higher on August 7 with help from US economic data and technology stocks' gains following Japan's top policymaker calmed investor worries over interest rates after a surprise hike last week partly set off heavy volatility in global markets.

BOJ Deputy Governor Shinichi Uchida said the central bank will not raise interest rates when financial markets are unstable, causing the yen to sink. But in equities, the Nikkei added 1 percent after Tuesday's 10 percent rally, suggesting increased appetite for risk.

Stocks were supported as interest rates for the most popular US home loan plunged last week to their lowest levels in 15 months, after the Federal Reserve said it could start cutting rates in September. The Mortgage Bankers Association also said on Wednesday that refinancing applications hit the highest level in two years.

The BoJ comments, Tuesday's risk-on rally and Wednesday's data were good signs for consumers, said Gene Goldman, chief investment officer at Cetera Investment Management.

"Now you have optimism around consumer spending and maybe the economy is not as bad (as feared) as people are able to refinance mortgages," he said. "It's more money in their pockets."

On Wall Street at 11:12 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 80 points, or 0.2 percent. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.4 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose 11.68 points, or 1.51 percent, to 782.67 while Europe's STOXX 600 index rose 1.63 percent.

In currencies, the yen dropped after the BoJ comments on hikes, which soothed investors' concerns that a further jump in the Japanese currency could again roil global markets.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, gained 0.15 percent at 103.13.

Against the yen, the dollar strengthened 2.22 percent to 147.51 while the euro was up 0.03 percent at $1.0933.

In US Treasuries, yields rose before the Treasury Department's auction of $42 billion in 10-year notes. Investor appetite for stocks reduced demand for safe-haven US debt.

The yield on the benchmark US 10-year note rose 6.8 basis points to 3.956 percent, from 3.888 percent late on Tuesday.

The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, rose 4.7 basis points to 4.0323 percent, from 3.985 percent. The 30-year bond yield rose 6 basis points to 4.2374 percent from 4.177 percent.

Oil prices climbed on concerns that an escalating Middle East conflict could hurt oil production, even as worries about weak crude demand persisted.

US crude gained 3.21 percent at $75.55 a barrel and Brent rose to $78.62 per barrel, up 2.8 percent on the day.

In precious metals, spot gold added 0.43 percent at $2,399.70 an ounce. US gold futures rose 0.47 percent to $2,400.40 an ounce.