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Netflix falls after downbeat forecast
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Abbott Labs, Intuitive Surgical jump after earnings
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Western Alliance surges as results allay deposit fears
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Indexes: Dow down 0.2%, S&P up 0.01%, Nasdaq up 0.14%
(Updates with mid-afternoon trading)
By Lewis Krauskopf, Sruthi Shankar and Ankika Biswas
April 19 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 was little changed on
Wednesday as investors digested a mixed bag of corporate
earnings, including upbeat reports from medical technology
companies, while weakness in Netflix and Tesla shares weighed.
The Dow edged lower, dragged down by declines in Walt Disney
Co and UnitedHealth Group Inc shares following
results from rivals in their respective industries.
Major equity indexes have been largely stable during the
early stages of a first-quarter earnings season that investors
expect to show tepid results.
"Corporate results are being seen as being in large part
company-specific news versus market news," said Art Hogan, chief
market strategist at B Riley Wealth. "If that keeps us
relatively calm and unchanged for now, while the sample set of
reporters is still quite small, I think that's a positive."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 67.89 points,
or 0.2%, to 33,908.74; the S&P 500 gained 0.4 points, or
0.01%, at 4,155.27; and the Nasdaq Composite added 16.95
points, or 0.14%, at 12,170.37.
The defensive utilities group gained most among
S&P 500 sectors, rising 0.7%.
The CBOE Volatility index , also known as Wall
Street's fear gauge, fell to its lowest point since November
2021 during the session.
Investors are looking for signs in the corporate results
that inflation may be driving up costs or hurting consumer
spending, amid fears the economy may be on the cusp of a
downturn.
S&P 500 companies overall are expected to post a 4.8%
decline in first-quarter earnings from the year-earlier period,
according to Refinitiv IBES.
Netflix Inc shares slid 4.2% after the
video-streaming pioneer offered a lighter-than-expected
forecast. Shares of steaming rival Disney fell 1.8%.
Tesla Inc shares dropped 1% after the
electric-vehicle maker's sixth U.S. price cut this year, ahead
of its quarterly results due after market close on Wednesday.
Shares of Elevance Health Inc fell 5.4% after the
insurer's strong quarterly profit failed to ease investor
concerns over regulatory hits to the company's government-backed
insurance business. UnitedHealth shares were off 3.7%.
Elsewhere in healthcare, Abbott Laboratories shares
jumped 7.6% after the medical device maker said most delayed
non-urgent medical procedures had resumed globally three years
into the COVID-19 pandemic. Intuitive Surgical shares
soared 11% after its quarterly revenue and profit topped
estimates.
Shares of Western Alliance Bancorp surged 23% after
the company posted stronger-than-expected earnings, helping lift
the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF 4%.
Regional banks have been in focus after the failure of
Silicon Valley Bank last month prompted concerns about systemic
risks.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a
1.32-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.07-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 15 new 52-week highs and one new low; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 48 new highs and 111 new lows.
(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf in New York, Sruthi Shankar and
Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru
Editing by Vinay Dwivedi and Richard Chang)
