Markets mixed, odds of recession low

Markets were mixed on Thursday.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3 percent, the Nikkei 225 jumped 1.3 percent and the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.4 percent.

However, the STOXX Europe 600 fell 0.5 percent.

US crude oil fell 0.3 percent.

Edward Farley, head of the European corporate-bond team at PGIM Fixed Income, said that the broad selloff has provided opportunities to buy beaten-down stocks, although he is treading carefully. “We are skeptical on global growth,” he said.

However, other analysts appear to be more sanguine about the economy.

“The evidence seems to be that the US economy is growing fine,” said Paul Quinsee, chief investment officer for US equities at JP Morgan Asset Management.

Indeed, Wall Street analysts generally think that the odds of a downturn in the US economy in 2016 are low.