What a rollercoaster with the indexes swinging back and forth between black and red throughout the session, the Dow being up some 170, then down some 170 before all three closed down modestly, the Dow down 39 points.  But due to the holiday week volume remains low and investors are on the sidelines awaiting more Q1 reports and evaluating the impact of Ukraine, inflation, and China’s COVID policy on company financials. Does clarity come from earnings? China? The Fed? As today’s expert put it, “It’s going to be some time before either one gives us any clear direction.” 

Mon  April 18, 2022  6:25 PM

Wall St ends lower as investors await further earnings cues

By David French

DJ: 34,451.23  -113.36        NAS: 13,351.08  -292.51        S&P: 4,392.59  -54.00      4/14

DJ: 34,411.69  -39.54          NAS: 13,332.36  -18.72          S&P: 4,391.69  -0.90        4/18

April 18 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed lower on Monday after a session which saw all three benchmarks slip between positive and negative territory, as investors contrasted Bank of America's positive earnings with surging bond yields ahead of further earnings cues this week.  Market participants are bracing for a barrage of earnings that will help them assess the impact of the Ukraine war and a spike in inflation on company financials. Netflix (NFLX.O), Tesla (TSLA.O), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) and International Business Machines (IBM.N) are all to report this week.

Trading volumes were thin after the Easter break: 10.35 billion shares changed hands, compared with the 11.79 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.  With European markets also remaining shut on Monday, this listless trading contributed to the topsy-turvy session.  "The market is looking for some direction. Do we get it from earnings - maybe. But the overarching factors continue to be what does China look like with its zero-COVID policy, and what does the Fed look like going forward in terms of interest rates and inflation," said Jack Janasiewicz, portfolio manager and lead portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers.  "It's going to be some time before either one gives us any clear direction. With that backdrop, I'm not shocked if we just continue to trade in a range."

Bank of America rounded out earnings season for the big Wall Street banks, reporting strong growth in its consumer lending business, although its investment banking unit took a hit from a slowdown in deal making. read more  Its share price rose 3.4%, while the broader S&P 500 banks index (.SPXBK) also gained 1.7%.  Apple Inc (AAPL.O) slipped 0.1% as the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 2.86%, after hitting 2.884% earlier on Monday, the highest since Dec. 2018.  Shares of market-leading technology and growth companies have come under pressure as expectations of a string of interest rate hikes threaten to erode their future earnings.  Tesla, however, rose 2% as it prepares to reopen its Shanghai plant following a near three-week COVID shutdown. read more 

 

Five of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, led by the energy index (.SPNY) which advanced 1.5%. Crude prices gained and Brent topped $114 a barrel at one point on outages in Libya deepening concerns over tight global supply.  Among the best performers was Marathon Petroleum Corp (MPC.N), which gained 3.3% to hit a second lifetime high in three sessions. Valero Energy Corp (VLO.N) and Phillips 66 (PSX.N) both advanced 5.2%. 

 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) fell 39.54 points, or 0.11%, to 34,411.69, the S&P 500 (.SPX) lost 0.9 points, or 0.02%, to 4,391.69 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) dropped 18.72 points, or 0.14%, to 13,332.36. 

 

Charles Schwab Corp (SCHW.N) fell 9.4%, its biggest one-day drop since March 2020, after the financial services company missed quarterly profit estimates.  Twitter (TWTR.N) rose 7.5% as the micro blogging site adopted "poison pill" on Friday to restrict Tesla CEO Elon Musk from raising his stake to beyond 15% for a one-year period.  Didi Global Inc (DIDI.N) slumped 18.3% after the Chinese ride hailing company said it will hold an extraordinary general meeting on May 23 to vote on its delisting plans in the United States. read more

The S&P 500 posted 27 new 52-week highs and 24 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 59 new highs and 397 new lows.