It didn’t take long for the markets to move past Brexit. Following two days of historic selling, equities reversed course and marched firmly back into positive territory.
The S&P 500 added 35 points to close at 2,036, the Dow Jones Industrial average rose 269 points to end the day at 17,409 and the Nasdaq gained 97 points to close at 4,691.
The trading volumes were lighter than they had been over the past couple of days of trading with one billion shares traded. The S&P Retail ETF ended the day 53 cents higher at $40.67.
The CBOE Market Volatility Index or VIX — known as the fear gauge — plunged 21 percent for the sharpest decline since Oct. 16, 2013. Crude oil rose 3 percent to $47 a barrel and the dollar slid 0.3 percent.
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Following the market close, Nike Inc. fell almost 6 percent to $50 in after-hours trading when the athletic giant reported its fourth-quarter earnings. Nike delivered earnings per share of 49 cents, which beat the FactSet estimate for 48 cents per share. Revenues were $8.24 billion, essentially inline with the estimates, but just shy of the forecast of $8.27 billion. Gross margins were lower as the company cleared out inventory. Inventories as of May 31 are up 12 percent.
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The best performing retail stocks for the day were PVH Corp. that added 5.5 percent to close at $89.58, Vince Holding Corp. closing up 4.7 percent at $5.11 and Under Armour, which finished the day up 4.5 percent or $37.52.
The worst performing were The Bon-Ton Stores Inc., down 1.5 percent to $1.36, Elizabeth Arden sliding 0.29 percent to $13.78 and Express down .07 percent to $14.17.
The Bon-Ton Stores was hurt by word from S&P Global Ratings that questioned whether the retail chain would default on its debt. The department store chain has debt maturity due in mid-2017. Bon-Ton tried to do a sale-leaseback on some stores, but the deal didn’t go through and S&P now thinks Bon-Ton will have trouble making the payment.
Looking ahead, the European Union Leaders summit continues in Brussels.