(CNBC) — U.S. stocks closed mostly higher on Wednesday, recovering from sharp intraday declines as gains in energy offset earlier pressures from growth concerns.
"We did hold the lower end of that support level range (on the S&P 500)," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital. "Probably more important is we had oil prices stabilize."
The Nasdaq Composite turned positive, ending mildly higher after earlier falling 1.5 percent.
The S&P 500 turned higher as energy jumped nearly 2 percent to lead sector gains. The index attempted to hold above support levels after breaching them to dip into negative territory for the year. More than half of the stocks in the S&P 500 are trading in correction territory.