Wall Street struggles for direction on growing recession fears

Lower bond yields lift some technology stocks; Accenture stock slides on tepid current-quarter sales view

U.S. stocks indexes were mixed on Thursday as gains in healthcare and megacap technology stocks offset losses in energy and other economically sensitive sectors amid growing recession fears.

Trading has remained volatile after a bruising selloff last week sparked by concerns that aggressive interest rate hikes to tame stubborn inflation could hurt economic growth and corporate profits.

As government bond yields fell to two-week lows, rate-sensitive growth and technology stocks gained, with Apple Inc adding 0.8% and Microsoft Corp 0.9%.

Sectors considered as safer bets in equities such as healthcare, consumer staples, real estate and utilities gained more than 1%, while energy stocks