By Dan Strumpf in New York and Josie Cox in London 

U.S. stocks rebounded Wednesday after falling sharply in the previous session on deepening worries about China.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 212 points, or 1.3%, to 16271. The S&P 500 added 1.2% while the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.5%.

In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 index ended 0.3% higher. Shares in China fell after a rocky session.

The moves come after deep losses Tuesday that sent the Dow careening to a 470-point loss, dashing hopes that the volatility of recent sessions had abated. That selloff was sparked by renewed concerns over slowing growth in China after a weak manufacturing reading from the world's second-largest economy.

"We're taking our cues from overseas right now," said Michael Antonelli, equity sales trader at Robert W. Baird, of the U.S. market rebound. "That's been the case for the last week or so."

While headlines out of China have been driving August's wide swings in U.S. stocks, investors' attention will shift back to the U.S. later this week with Friday's jobs report for August. The data could be a key factor in the Federal Reserve's decision over whether to raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade at its meeting this month.

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expect 220,000 new jobs were created in August, up from 215,000 in July. The unemployment rate is expected to tick lower to 5.2% from 5.3%.

Private-sector jobs data released Wednesday showed that payrolls in the U.S. in August expanded at a more modest-than-expected clip, according to Automatic Data Processing Inc. and forecasting firm Moody's Analytics.

Growth concerns and the recent market turmoil have led some analysts to question when the Federal Reserve will start to raise interest rates from rock-bottom levels.

"If the payroll number on Friday comes in weaker than expected, then that would certainly be more of a reason to wait," said Brian Jacobsen, chief portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo Funds Management.

"Markets are cheered by this possibility of having more time," he said after the ADP figures were released.

Low interest rates since the global financial crisis have spurred a multiyear rally in stock markets around the world.

Financial markets have endured a roller-coaster ride since China moved to devalue the yuan in mid-August. Commodities and stocks indexes around the world suffered some of their worst declines in years last month

The Dow has shed 10% in the past three months, while the S&P 500 is off nearly 9%.

"We for a while have felt that there would be pockets of volatility" in markets over the next few years, said Mike Amey, a portfolio manager at Pacific Investment Management Co., who highlighted sharp moves in the Swiss franc in January and German government bonds in April and May as other examples.

"Our core expectation is that we're in one of those pockets right now rather than anything more sinister. We are still cautiously optimistic on global growth," said Mr. Amey, whose firm oversees $1.5 trillion in assets.

The Shanghai Composite Index ended 0.2% lower Wednesday after mainland brokerages were suspected of plowing cash into the market at Beijing's direction. Analysts said authorities in China may have wanted to cheer up domestic investors ahead of a two-day celebration in the capital commemorating the end of World War II.

The Shanghai benchmark, which has been at the center of the global selloff, has lost nearly 14% of its value since this time last month despite authorities' efforts to stem losses. China's central bank last month cut interest rates for the fifth time since November and Beijing has intervened to prop up the market.

Oil prices fluctuated Wednesday. Crude traded in New York fell 3% to $44.10 a barrel. Brent crude, the global benchmark, declined 2.1% to $48.48 a barrel. Oil prices tumbled sharply Tuesday to snap a three-session rally.

The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds rose to 2.182% as prices fell.

The euro was recently about 0.5% lower against the U.S. dollar at $1.1245. The dollar was 0.3% higher against Japan's yen at Yen120.07.

Chao Deng in Hong Kong and Christopher Whittall in London contributed to this article.

Write to Dan Strumpf at daniel.strumpf@wsj.com and Josie Cox at josie.cox@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 02, 2015 13:54 ET (17:54 GMT)