Stocks ended with little change on Wall Street on Wednesday as investors found few incentives to keep pushing equities higher following a 1 percent rally in the previous session.
The three major stock indexes — the Standard Poor’s 500-stock index, the Dow Jones industrial average and the Nasdaq composite index — all were almost even with Tuesday’s close by the end of the session.
“We are a little bit at stall speed,” said Keith Bliss, senior vice president at Cuttone Co. in New York. “It wouldn’t surprise me a bit to see us consolidate around this level on the S.P. 500 for the next day or two, in the absence of some real compelling news, which is always a risk.”
Signs of political conflict in the euro zone also dented sentiment, amid signals of disagreement between Germany and France over the euro exchange rate. The spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said on Wednesday that the euro is not overvalued, thus potentially reducing the chances of political intervention to curb an exchange rate that analysts say could start hurting corporate profits.
European stock markets generally pulled back, with the CAC 40 in Paris ending down 1.4 percent and the DAX in Frankfurt losing 1.1 percent. The FTSE 100 in London added 0.2 percent.
A 6 percent advance this year had lifted the S.P. 500 index to its highest level since December 2007, while the Dow briefly climbed above 14,000 points, making it a challenge for investors to continue pushing the equity market upward amid a dearth of fresh trading incentives.
Walt Disney beat estimates for quarterly adjusted earnings and said it expected the next few quarters to be better, with a stronger lineup of movies and rising attendance at its theme parks. Shares advanced 0.4 percent.
Ralph Lauren climbed 5.9 percent after the fashion retailer reported holiday quarter sales and profit that showed renewed momentum.
Time Warner gained 4.1 percent after reporting higher fourth-quarter profit that beat Wall Street estimates, as growth in its cable networks offset declines in its film, TV entertainment and publishing units.
The benchmark S.P. index rose 1 percent Tuesday, its biggest percentage gain since a 2.5 percent advance on Jan. 2, when legislators sidestepped spending cuts and tax increases that could have hurt a fragile domestic economic recovery.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/07/business/daily-stock-market-activity.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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