U.S. stock markets opened higher early Wednesday following three days of dramatic drops that put the Nasdaq into a correction with a loss of more than 10 percent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 250 points, or 0.9 percent, and the S&P 500 rose 43 points, or 1.3 percent. The Nasdaq bounced 200 points higher, or 1.9 percent, as tech stocks recovered.

Markets saw a tough sell-off in the last week after a prolonged period of frothy growth, which some critics said was overblown, given the still-dire state of the economy due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Others lamented that rising stocks continued to pad the pockets of the wealthy, who own a majority of stocks, while regular people dealt with high levels of unemployment, increasing inequality.

Record-low interest rates have helped markets recover from severe drops in March, at the onset of the pandemic, to new record highs in recent months.