Stocks closed modestly higher on Wall Street after a day of veering between gains and losses.

The tentative trading came a day after the market’s worst drop in two years, which was set off by fears that higher interest rates could cause a recession.

The S&P 500 added 0.3% Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended just slightly in the green and the Nasdaq composite added about three-quarters of a percent.

On Wednesday:

The S&P 500 rose 13.32 points, or 0.3%, to 3,946.01.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 30.12 points, or 0.1%, to 31,135.09.

The Nasdaq rose 86.10 points, or 0.7%, to 11,719.68.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 6.89 points, or 0.4%, to 1,838.46.

For the week:

The S&P 500 is down 121.35 points, or 3%.

The Dow is down 1,016.62 points, or 3.2%.

The Nasdaq is down 392.63 points, or 3.2%.

The Russell 2000 is down 44.38 points, or 2.4%.

For the year:

The S&P 500 is down 820.17 points, or 17.2%.

The Dow is down 5,203.21 points, or 14.3%.

The Nasdaq is down 3,925.29 points, or 25.1%.

The Russell 2000 is down 406.85 points, or 18.1%.

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