A turbulent week for Wall Street continued on Wednesday with trade tensions, the government shutdown, and a solid wave of earnings reports all battling for investor attention
The S&P 500 rose 0.4%. The Nasdaq Composite was up 0.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 17 points, or less than 0.1%.
Earnings from Bank of America and Morgan Stanley, among others, continued an early trend of strong quarterly results.
“While there’s little economic data on the calendar again today, it’s been another strong showing for earnings this morning as eight of the ten companies reporting exceeded bottom-line results,” wrote Bespoke Investment Group co-founder Paul Hickey.
The major indexes initially opened higher but lost steam as the session rolled on. A brief rebound turned sideways, with the Dow finishing down on the day.
“The market is still searching for direction after last Friday’s sharp decline,” Frank Cappelleri, founder of technical analysis firm CappThesis, told Barron’s. “The rebound since then hasn’t shown any meaningful follow-through from either side—aside from a few intraday swings.”
Cappelleri says bears looking for an immediate breakdown haven’t been rewarded, while dip buyers haven’t seen much of a payoff, either.
“At this point, patience is warranted on both sides,” he says. “There’s no reason to jump in front of a move that hasn’t developed yet. It’s better to wait for the next decisive break and then follow the momentum.”
Despite the lack of a consumer price index as the government shutdown hit Day 15, traders had plenty of commentary from Federal Reserve officials to parse through this week. Investors are also waiting for a substantial shift in the latest trade spat between the U.S. and China.