All three major indexes on Wall Street ended the day firmly in the black, driven by the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite index, which ended 1.4% higher

Global stocks bounced back Thursday in choppy trade as investors evaluated the outlook for interest rates and tech giants rebounded from recent losses.

All three major indexes on Wall Street ended the day firmly in the black, driven by the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite index, which ended 1.4% higher.

Among individual firms, the chip-making behemoth Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company saw its share price in New York soar around 10% after beating earnings expectations.

Apple’s share price was rose 3.3% after its stock was upgraded to “buy” by a BoA analyst.

European markets also ended higher, as did most Asian markets, while oil prices advanced amid continued unrest in the Middle East.

Thursday’s optimism stands in stark contrast to trading a day earlier.

Then, global stocks slumped after stronger-than-expected US retail sales data dimmed hopes for an early start to US Fed rate cuts, while weak Chinese growth data gave cause for concern, and the UK saw an unexpected acceleration in inflation.

Stock markets are modestly higher on Thursday, recovering some of Wednesday’s losses as investors seemingly struggle to determine where things stand, said market analyst Craig Erlam at OANDA.

There is clearly a desperate desire to cling on to the optimism that enabled such a strong end to the year but unlike in that period, the data is not really playing ball, Erlam said.

It was not all good news in the US, however, as retail store Macy’s announced it was cutting more than 2,300 jobs as part of a new strategy to streamline the firm.

The news sent its share price lower near 0.3% in after-hours trading.

Earlier Thursday, a senior Fed official indicated he expected the US central bank to cut interest rates in the third quarter – and maybe even earlier than that.

If we continue to see a further accumulation of downside surprises in the data, it is possible for me to get comfortable enough to advocate normalization sooner than the third quarter, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic told a conference in the city.

But the evidence would need to be convincing, said Bostic, who is a voting member of the Fed’s rate-setting committee this year.