Wall Street surges on last day of turbulent quarter; Shares of Facebook, Apple, Alphabet and Microsoft up

US stocks jumped on Thursday as technology shares bounced back from a sharp selloff ahead of a long weekend that marks the end of a turbulent quarter for Wall Street. Shares of Facebook, Apple, Alphabet and Microsoft were up between 1 percent and 4 percent, driving a 1.8 percent gain in the S&P technology index. However, the S&P 500 and the Dow were on track to log their worst quarter in more than two years on concerns over a global trade war and interest rate hikes, as well as a rout in technology stocks caused by Facebook Inc`s data scandal. "People are worried about rising interest rates. That has led to market volatility and we`ll see more of that," said Mark Esposito, president of Esposito Securities LLC.

Global investors have cut their equity exposure to a four-month low in March, while reducing their holdings of U.S. stocks to the lowest in nearly two years, spooked by trade tensions and the rout in technology sector. At 11:03 a.m. ET, the Dow was up 1.19 percent at 24,131.76, the S&P 500 gained 1.18 percent to 2,635.85 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.37 percent at 7,044.63. Trading volumes were light, ahead of the long Easter weekend.

Economic data released on Thursday did little to change the expectations of interest rate hikes.

Core personal consumption expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve`s favored inflation gauge, rose 1.6 percent on an annualized basis through February, in line with economists` expectations.

Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, increased 0.2 percent last month after a similar gain in January.

Amazon fell more than 1 percent after President Donald Trump blasted the company with a list of complaints, a day after news website Axios reported that Trump wants to rein in the company`s growing power using federal antitrust laws.

GameStop shares fell 10.8 percent after the company provided disappointing full-year sales forecast.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE for a 4.32-to-1 ratio and for a 3.34-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)