The Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered the bulk of a nearly 600-point drop on Wednesday as a sharp decline in bond yields stabilized to temper worries over slowing economic growth.

The 30-stock index closed 22.45 points lower, or 0.1% at 26,007.07. At its lows of the day, the Dow had fallen more 589.13 points. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.4% to 7,862.83, led by Apple, after the tech-heavy index fell as much as 1.7%. The S&P 500 eked out a small gain after dropping nearly 2%, climbing 0.1% to 2,883.98. This was the S&P 500's biggest intraday comeback of the year.

The 10-year Treasury yield traded around 1.71%. The benchmark rate briefly dipped below 1.6% earlier in the day to hit a 2016 low.

Stocks also bounced off their lows as the Chinese yuan's fall against the U.S. dollar was curbed. The yuan traded around 7.06 per dollar on Wednesday. The currency bounced off its session low against the dollar around 9:45 a.m. ET, around the same time the major stock indexes started to pare losses.

"When we started getting the headlines with China, institutions needed some time to make their moves and reposition. I think we've priced in all the headlines that have been coming out," said Michael Katz, partner at Seven Points Capital. "If we get more headlines and back and forth between China and the U.S., I think we head back lower. But right now everything seems to be priced in. If we don't get any more headlines, I think that takes some pressure off the market."

Still, concerns over global growth remained as gold traded at fresh multiyear highs and trade fears lingered.

"Yields are collapsing and gold is soaring," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities. "That's raising concern about the impact of the trade war on the economy."

"Investors need to be prudent and cautious here," he said.

Gold jumped more than 2%, marking the first time since 2013 the metal traded above $1,500. Its year-to-date gains have also surpassed those of the S&P 500.

"On top of that you're seeing more and more money going into German bunds ... that's going to scare people because they're continuing to move money – at the end of last year there was $8 trillion in negative yields. Currently right now we're at $15 trillion in negative yields," said Jeff Kilburg, CEO of KKM Financial.

The yield on the 10-year German bund briefly fell to negative 0.6%, a record low.