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US stocks overturned early losses to trade higher on Wednesday as some buyers returned to a market still shaking from a record fall for the Dow Jones Industrial Average earlier this week.

At 10:09 am ET (15:09 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 228.25 points, or 0.92 per cent, at 25,141.02. 

The S&P 500 rose 19.12 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 2,714.26 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 22.72 points, or 0.32 per cent, at 7,138.60.

"It looks like a little bit of a stabilisation trade overnight," said John Brady, senior vice president at futures brokerage R.J. O'Brien & Associates in Chicago. "I don't know if it's over, but a market range may be established." 

Gains in industrial and consumer discretionary stocks led advances on the S&P and the Dow.

Boeing and United Tech rose about 1.5 per cent, providing the biggest boost to the Dow, while Amazon's 1 per cent rise helped lift the S&P.

The S&P energy index was up more than 1 per cent, led by Anadarko Petroleum's 5 per cent gain and an uptick in oil prices. 

A wild session on Tuesday had seen the Dow swing more than 1,100 points from peak to trough and ended with the benchmark S&P 500 recording its best day since just before President Donald Trump's election in 2016.

Traders are still braced for more volatility as they try to figure out if the swings of the past week are the start of a deeper correction or just a temporary blip in the US market's nine-year bull run.

The pivotal gauge of S&P 500 volatility, the VIX, opened at a relatively elevated 31 points and slipped to 21.74. The VIX on Tuesday hit a more than two-and-a-half year high above 50, after trading, on average, below 20 for months.

Some investors fear the market is over-stretched in the context of higher inflation and rising bond yields as central banks withdraw their easy money policies of recent years. The recent rout has wiped about $4 trillion off world equities.

US 10-year yields were at 2.789 per cent, up from 2.766 per cent on Tuesday.

US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly praised Wall Street gains during his first year in office, on Wednesday dismissed recent market rout, saying stocks should not be falling amid strong economic news.

"In the 'old days, when good news was reported, the Stock Market would go up. Today, when good news is reported, the Stock Market goes down. Big mistake, and we have so much good [great] news about the economy!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

Snapchat owner Snap soared 21 per cent after it reported surging growth in users and revenue in its latest quarter.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 2,068 to 720. On the Nasdaq, 1,596 issues rose and 1,056 fell.

The S&P 500 index showed 2 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the NASDAQ recorded 13 new highs and 21 new lows.

LONDON — Panic gripped trading floors across the world on Tuesday, with Asia and Europe plunging after record-breaking losses on Wall Street, as investors fretted over the prospect of rising US interest rates and took profits following months of markets euphoria.

The selloff began last Friday when bright US non-farm payrolls data sparked fears that inflation will surge this year — and that the Federal Reserve will be forced to raise borrowing costs more quickly than anticipated.

In initial trade on Tuesday, European stock markets collapsed by about 3.5 per cent, mirroring dramatic falls across Asia.

"It's not doom and gloom, and it's not financial markets Armageddon; it's just a much needed and much overdue correction," AxiTrader analyst James Hughes told AFP.

"There are four stages of a fall: Hope, greed, panic and fear. We are not at fear, but we are at panic at the moment — which is only natural after a 1,175-point fall."

New York's Dow Jones Industrial Average saw its steepest ever one-day point drop on Monday, shedding a total of 1,175.20 points or a hefty 4.6 per cent in value.

Ten-year US Treasury yields are still hovering near four-year peaks. European markets later trimmed their losses somewhat on Tuesday to stand about 2.5 per cent lower compared with Monday's closing level.

At the start of trading on Tuesday the Dow shed another 2.7 per cent, officially moving into what is considered a correction — a drop of 10 per cent from a recent high.

"US stocks are adding to a sharp pullback seen in the past few trading sessions, with the recent jump in bond yields and signs of inflation ticking higher appearing to spur on the selloff..." said analysts at Charles Schwab brokerage.

The S&P 500 shed 1.2 per cent at the open, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping 1.9 per cent. 

 'Time to take revenge' 

"Markets usually grind to the upside, but fall like a rock," said analyst Naeem Aslam at trading firm ThinkMarkets.

"Traders have been looking at the market for the past year moving in one direction which was skewed to the upside. Now, it's time for the bears to take their revenge."

Prior to this week's chaotic selloff, Wall Street had enjoyed an impressive record-breaking run ever since Trump's 2016 election on hopes over the US president's pro-business tax-cutting policies.

Asia and Europe had meanwhile reaped bumper gains from the improving economic outlook.

"If investors had been waiting for an opportunity to take profits, the prospect of higher than expected inflation and tightening by the Fed provided just that," added Richard Hunter, head of markets at online stockbroker Interactive Investor.

"Rising interest rates, whilst potentially good news for savers, increase the cost of borrowing and the possibility of loan defaults," he told AFP.

"Mixed in with that, higher bond yields could increase the attractiveness of bonds as an investment destination, some of which will be at the expense of equities."

On Tuesday, Tokyo stocks led a collapse throughout Asia, briefly diving almost 7 per cent before closing down 4.7 per cent.

Hong Kong lost more than five per cent in its worst day since summer 2015, while Sydney and Singapore each sank 3 per cent.

On currency markets, the yen, considered a go-to unit in times of turmoil and uncertainty, climbed against the dollar.

Bitcoin continued its spiral downwards after some banks banned their customers from buying it with credit cards. The news is the latest to hit the cryptocurrency after recent crackdowns by authorities in India, South Korea, China and Russia.

The unit was down more than 20 per cent to a three-month low at $5,922 — less than a third of its value near $20,000 in December.

PARIS — US online retailer Amazon said on Monday that it has settled a major tax claim in France and will start declaring all its earnings in the country in a response to building European pressure on the digital economy giants.

Amazon did not reveal how much it had paid over a French claim for nearly 200 million euros ($249 million) covering the period from 2006 to 2010.

It is one of several American technology giants in the line of fire in Europe over their tax-avoidance strategies, which often sees them route their income through low-tax nations — in Amazon's case, Luxembourg.

French President Emmanuel Macron has proposed a new mechanism for taxing US tech companies that would take into account the volume of sales generated in each European country, rather than on the profits that are booked through low-tax jurisdictions. 

Amazon announced a similar tax settlement deal with Italy in December, paying 100 million euros to settle an investigation into suspected tax evasion from 2011 to 2015, while also agreeing to declare its income locally.

In 2012, Amazon revealed that it had been hit with a 198-million-euro tax bill in France for back taxes, interest and penalties relating to income spread between different jurisdictions.

At the time, the company had said it disagreed with the French assessment and vowed to "vigorously" fight it.

In its statement Monday, Amazon said it had created a French subsidiary for its European operations in August 2015, "with all retail revenues, expenses, profits and taxes due now accounted for in France".

The retailer also said it had invested over 2 billion euros in France since 2010, creating more than 5,500 jobs.

'Electroshock' plan 

European officials have vowed to make the digital economy giants known as GAFA — Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple — pay a greater share of their taxes in the countries where they earn their profits.

Under current EU law, companies based outside the bloc can declare their earnings from across the 28-nation market in a single country.

That has led them to pick low-tax nations like Ireland, the Netherlands or Luxembourg — depriving other member states of revenues, even though they may account for a bigger share of the earnings.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development says such rules cost governments around the world as much as $240 billion (193 billion euros) a year in lost revenue, according to a 2015 estimate.

On Sunday, EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said he would unveil by the end of March a plan to "create a consensus and an electroshock" on taxing digital economy revenues.

"The idea is to be able to identify the activities of digital companies, so we need a range of indicators — the number of clicks, the number of IP addresses, advertising, and eventually revenues... and then we'll find ways to tax them," Moscovici said.

He said the new rules would apply to the GAFA giants, as well as accommodation services like AirBnB and Booking.com.

Changes under way 

American tech giants appear to believe the European tax revamp is in the cards, with several already announcing pledges to pay more in each country where they operate as governments step up their fiscal demands.

Facebook said in December that it would start declaring advertising revenue in the countries where they have offices, instead of recording it at its international headquarters in Dublin.

"We believe that moving to a local selling structure will provide more transparency to governments and policy makers around the world," the social network's financial chief Dave Wehner said at the time.

France is pursuing Google for 1.12 billion euros it says it owes in back taxes, after paying just 6.7 million euros in corporate tax for 2015 by booking most of its revenues through Ireland.

A court initially ruled that Google was not liable for the tax claim, but the government has appealed the decision — while saying it was still open to a settlement.

The search giant has already agreed to fiscal deals with Britain and Italy over the Irish tax arrangement.

Amazon's settlement comes as it is also facing a court case in France over claims it has abused its dominant position on its "marketplace" platform for third-party vendors.

The finance ministry said in December that it was seeking a fine of about 10 million euros.

NEW YORK — The Dow suffered its worst drop in more than a year and a half on Friday as US stocks plunged on disappointing earnings from big companies and worries about higher interest rates.

The Dow Jones Industrial sank 2.5 per cent, 665 points, to 25,520.96, its worst drop in percentage terms since June 2016. All 30 companies of the index ended in the red.

The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 2.1 per cent to 2,762.13, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 2 per cent to 7,240.95. 

Analysts have been eyeing an increase in US bond yields that accelerated further on Friday after a stronger-than-expected US jobs report raised expectations more Federal Reserve interest rate increases could be coming.

The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note climbed again Friday to 2.85 per cent.

"What's been bothering the market is the speed with which they're going up," Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare said of higher Treasury yields.

"Everyone has to remember we had a very over-extended market," O'Hare said. "You now have group think driving things the other way as the trading trends shifts."

O'Hare said disappointing earnings added to the selling momentum.

Troublesome headlines from Washington over the disputed release of Republican memo about investigations of Donald Trump's election campaign were "another negative news item", but not the driver of Friday's selling, O'Hare said.

ExxonMobil slumped 5.1 per cent after reporting a huge increase in fourth-quarter profits due to one-time benefits from US tax reform. 

But the excluding tax reform bonus, earnings translated to 88 cents a share, below the $1.04 expected by financial analysts.

Chevron, another big oil company in the Dow that reported disappointing results, fell 5.6 per cent.

Google-parent Alphabet fell 4.8 per cent after reporting a $3 billion quarterly loss to set aside funds to pay taxes on repatriated profits.

Apple fell 4.3 per cent after reporting a record $20 billion profit in the fourth quarter on higher revenues. However, the tech giant said iPhone sales in the quarter of 77.3 million were about a million fewer than the same period a year earlier.

An exception was Amazon, which jumped 2.9 per cent after reporting quarterly profits more than doubled to $1.9 billion.

AMMAN — The free trade agreement between Canada and Jordan should be fully utilised in order for trade figures to reach record high, Peter MacDougall, Canada’s ambassador to Jordan said this week.  

The ambassador made the remark at the opening ceremony of a workshop entitled “Opportunities in the Canadian Market for Processed Food under Jordan-Canada FTA”. 

Organised by the Jordan Exporters Association (JEA) in partnership with the Trade Facilitation Office Canada (TFO Canada), the workshop, which commenced on Monday, is the first of a series of activities, aimed at boosting bilateral trade, according to a JEA statement. 

Other activities include building SMEs exporters’ capacity to access the Canadian market through specialised technical assistance.

An exporter mission is scheduled to go to Montreal, Canada towards the end of April 2018, said the statement. 

Representatives of Jordanian companies will also participate in the food exhibition SIAL Canada 2018 which will be held in Montreal between May 2 and 4.

This project has been possible with the financial support of the government of Canada, provided through Global Affairs Canada. 

This initiative aims to underline Canada’s commitment to stimulate and promote gender equality. Therefore, all project’s activities consider the participation of at least 50 per cent of women led/owned SMEs.

The government of Canada, through TFO Canada, is providing a comprehensive incentive package for five women led/owned SMEs so they can participate in the exporter’s mission to Canada in May 2018. 

Under the free trade agreement signed between the two countries in June 2012, Jordanian companies can export their products to Canada without having to pay any customs duties giving them a competitive edge in the Canadian market, according to the statement.

The Jordan Exporters Association has partnered with the Trade Facilitation Office Canada since 2015 benefiting many Jordanian companies and helping them enter in the Canadian market. 

LONDON — The dollar stumbled on Thursday despite mounting expectations that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will speed up interest rate hikes this year, dealers said.

After Janet Yellen's final meeting as Fed governor, the US central bank's policy board said on Wednesday that while the nation's inflation remains below target, it expects it to move up this year.

The Fed's comments provided a partial boost for the dollar, although it stumbled during European trading hours.

"The dollar did not get the lift we expected from the Fed monetary policy meeting yesterday," said ADS Securities analyst Konstantinos Anthis on Thursday.

"Even though the central bank made it clear that they see inflation moving higher this year the US currency failed to capitalise on this news."

The greenback is still under pressure against most of its peers as central banks around the world look to tighten monetary policy more in line with the US.

'Unloved' 

"It's remarkable how the Dollar remains depressed and unloved, despite the Federal Reserve expressing optimism over increased inflationary pressures as the year moves on," said Lukman Otunuga at FXTM online currency trading brokerage. 

European stock markets slid after a mixed performance across Asia, with Frankfurt's DAX slumping 1.4 per cent.

London was hampered by a strong pound, which tends to weigh on the share prices of multinationals that earn in currencies other than sterling.

The pound rose on Thursday against major rivals as dealers shrugged off news of slowing UK manufacturing growth in January.

The FTSE was also dented by telecoms giant Vodafone, which announced a drop in revenue during its third quarter — sending its share price sliding 4.5 per cent.

Royal Dutch Shell dropped 1.7 per cent, despite the energy major announcing that 2017 net profits more than doubled on recovering oil prices.

Wall Street opened lower, with the Dow dropping 0.4 per cent in the first moments of trading.

In Asia, Tokyo's main stocks index jumped almost 2 per cent on a weaker yen and bargain-buying following a six-day losing streak.

AMMAN — Royal Jordanian (RJ) and the General Union for Air Transport on Monday signed a collective agreement giving RJ staff the choice to obtain a voluntary release from the job between the period February 1 and March 31, 2018 subject to the airline’s approval. 

RJ’s President Stefan Pichler and the head of the General Union for Air Transport and Tourism Yousef Qannab signed the agreement, according to a statement received by The Jordan Times on Wednesday.

Under the agreement, employees have the option to submit a request to be released from service, and subject to Royal Jordanian’s approval, they are given a half-month salary for each year of service, said the statement. 

Pichler said this agreement comes in line with the turnaround plan RJ is currently implementing to achieve sustainable profitability. One of the main pillars of the plan requires that RJ reduces manpower, he said, underlining RJ's and the union's keenness to ensure the sustainable profitability of the national carrier and its role in serving the country, and achieving the airline’s strategic goals. 

Qannab asserted that the union is committed to protecting employees’ rights, by ensuring that they receive compensation that supports them and their families after the end of their service. 

He also expressed the union’s appreciation of the employees’ efforts in all departments, according to the statement. 

STOCKHOLM — Swedish truck maker Volvo said Wednesday that its net profit sped ahead by 60 per cent in 2017, as strong global demand for heavy goods vehicles drove up sales to a new record. 

Investors cheered the latest earnings numbers, with Volvo's share price showing a gain of 1.2 per cent on the Stockholm stock exchange in early afternoon, while the rest of the market was flat.

Volvo said in a statement that its net profit soared to 21 billion kronor (2 billion euros, $2.67 billion) for the full year, as sales jumped by 11 per cent to 334 billion kronor.

Operating income rose by 46 per cent to 30.3 billion.

"In 2017 the Volvo Group achieved its highest sales and operating income in history," said Chief Executive Martin Lundstedt. 

"We also improved our profitability with an operating margin of 9.1 per cent, compared to 6.9 per cent in 2016, “he added.

Sales rose on all continents and in all business areas.

For Volvo Trucks, sales increased by 8 per cent, while the construction equipment unit saw a 31-per cent jump. Volvo Penta posted a 12.4-per cent rise, and Volvo Buses an increase of 3 per cent.

All units also registered their highest operating income ever, Volvo said.

The company also raised its truck sales outlook for 2018 for the European, North American, Brazilian and Indian markets. For the construction equipment unit, it raised its forecast for Europe, North America and China.

Volvo's board of directors has proposed a dividend of 4.25 kronor per share in 2018, up from 3.25 kronor a year ago.

Earlier this month, Volvo Trucks also announced it would begin selling electric trucks in 2019.

MARRAKESH, Morocco — International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde warned on Tuesday that "public dissatisfaction is bubbling up" in the Middle East and North Africa, calling for reforms that "respond faster to the expectations and sometimes to the frustration of the people".

Speaking at a conference in Morocco's Marrakesh, the head of the IMF called for "inclusive, sustainable growth" and urged delegates to consider "how do we scale up the reform so it provides for the people?"

The two-day "Opportunities for All" conference brought together senior political and business leaders, young people and representatives of civil society from Arab countries, many of them rocked by economic instability since the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.

The gathering focused on fighting corruption, boosting the private sector and creating jobs.

Moroccan Prime Minister Saad Eddine El Othmani spoke of "social pressure, expectations, aspirations and pressures from the population", calling for emergency programmes.

"The population has expectations for immediate solutions, needs that must be met immediately," he added.

Morocco has in recent months seen mass protests linked to perceived neglect of its northern Rif region and the northeastern former mining town of Jerada.

An official report published in October revealed persistent poverty in rural areas.

Following revolts born largely out of economic hardship and discontent among the young, IMF-backed reforms have proved a delicate balancing act elsewhere in the region.

To benefit from IMF loans, countries such as Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan have had to reduce their budget deficits, resulting in cost of living rises for their citizens.

An austerity budget in Tunisia, along with increases in value-added taxes, sent demonstrators out onto the streets in early January.

Speaking at the Marrakesh conference, Tunisia's Prime Minister Youssef Chahed criticised "policies... that only take into account gross domestic product, while citizens measure development by their standard of living".

"There is often a focus on financial and monetary stability, to the detriment of the social dimension," he said, welcoming a recent IMF initiative to diversify the indicators it uses to evaluate economic policies.

He said Tunisia's post-uprising transition had made the country "freer", but generated instability that had deterred investment.

Lagarde said promoting sustained growth in the region requires a "vibrant" private sector, fighting corruption and developing more equitable tax regimes, as well as supporting "excluded groups" including the youth, women and refugees.

As a region, the Middle East and North Africa has one of the lowest employment rates in the world, partly because of low women's participation in the workforce, according to a recent IMF report.

NEW DELHI — India said on Monday it expects economic growth to rise to between 7 and 7.5 per cent in the next fiscal year as the negative impact of two controversial reforms diminishes. 

The economy is expected to grow 6.75 per cent this fiscal year on the back of a recovery in the second half, the government said in its economic report released before the annual budget.

Growth has been hit by the introduction of a new national goods and services tax (GST) last year and by a controversial 2016 move to withdraw all high-value banknotes from circulation.

The economy has also been helped by a rise in exports, the government's chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian told reporters. 

"Growth is picking up because the temporary impact of demonetisation and GST have dissipated, corrective actions have been taken and the government is injecting a fair amount of demand," he said. 

"The direction is very good. The level is still below potential. But in terms of directionality, the economy seems to be picking up quite nicely, quite robustly," Subramanian said. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi swept to power in 2014 on a promise to attract foreign investment and create jobs for a burgeoning youth population.

In its report, the government said creating employment for young people would remain a key priority before a general election that must be held by May next year. 

It also expressed concern about falling rural incomes, saying climate change was having an adverse impact on farm yields. 

"Climate change could reduce annual agricultural incomes in the range of 15 per cent to 18 per cent on average, and up to 20 per cent to 25 per cent for unirrigated areas in India," it said.

Less than half of India's farmland is irrigated, with the rest reliant on rainfall.