US stocks dipped modestly yesterday, swinging wildly between positive and negative territory, a day after the Dow and S&P 500 indexes saw their biggest one-day declines in more than six years, while a world stock index dropped more than one per cent.

European shares closed down more than two per cent, and losses for MSCI’s widely tracked 47-country world index broke $4 trillion, with shares in emerging markets down sharply.

The blue chip Dow Jones Industrials index, which on Monday slumped briefly by more than 10 per cent from its January 26 record high, remains down about 8 percent from that point.

The swings on Wall Street indexes were wide, with an 89-point difference between the S&P 500 intraday high and low. “We’re bouncing around here. The market clearly hasn’t decided what the sentiment for the day is,” said Janna Sampson, co-chief investment officer at Oakbrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois.

The S&P materials index up 1.2 per cent, led the advancers, while the utilities index, down 2.2 per cent, led decliners.

The selloff in stocks that began last week has been built on concerns over higher interest rates and lofty valuations.

Some strategists view it as a healthy pullback after a rapid run-up in the start of the year and strong 2017 gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 108.77 points, or 0.45 per cent, to 24,454.52, the S&P 500 gained 4.27 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 2,653.21 and the Nasdaq Composite added 42.59 points, or 0.61 per cent, to 7,010.12. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 lost 2.50 per cent and MSCI’s gauge of global stocks shed 1.22 per cent.

US Treasury prices gained as volatile equity markets led inves-tors to seek out lower-risk bonds, though many remained nervous after a week-long rout sent yields on Monday to four-year highs.

The trigger for the sell-off was a rise in US bond yields last week after data showed wages rising at their fastest since 2009, raising the alarm about higher inflation and interest rates.