Wall Street closed lower as investors await more earnings signals

April 18 (Reuters) – US stocks closed lower on Monday after a session that saw all three indexes slip between positive and negative territory, as investors compared Bank of America’s positive earnings to higher bond yields ahead of more earnings signals this week.

Market participants are preparing for a shower of profits that will help them assess the impact of the Ukraine war and rising inflation on the company’s financials. Netflix (NFLX.O)Tesla (TSLA.O)Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) International Business Machines (IBM.N) All of them to report this week.

Trading volumes were thin after the Easter holiday: 10.35 billion shares changed hands, compared to an average of 11.79 billion for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

With European markets also still closed on Monday, this quiet trading contributed to the upside-down volatile session.

“The market is looking for some direction. Shall we get it from earnings – maybe. But the overarching factors are still what China looks like with the non-spreading coronavirus policy, and what the Fed looks like going forward in terms of interest,” said Jack Janasevic, Managing Director. Portfolio and lead portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers, “Rates and Inflation.”

“It will be a while before either of them gives us any clear direction. With this background, I wouldn’t be shocked if we continued to trade in a range.”

Bank of America wrapped up earnings season for major Wall Street banks, reporting solid growth in its consumer lending business, even though its investment banking unit was hit by a slowdown in dealmaking. Read more

Its share price is up 3.4%, while the broader S&P 500 banking index is up (.SPXBK) It also gained 1.7%.

Apple company (AAPL.O) It fell 0.1 percent as the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield rose to 2.86 percent, after hitting 2.884 percent earlier on Monday, the highest level since December 2018.

Market-leading technology and growth stocks came under pressure as expectations of a series of interest rate hikes threaten to undermine their future earnings.

However, Tesla is up 2% as it prepares to reopen its Shanghai factory after a nearly three-week COVID shutdown. Read more

Five of the 11 major sectors were S&P higher, led by the Energy Index (.SPNY) which advanced 1.5%. Crude oil prices soared and Brent topped $114 a barrel at one point amid a disruption in Libya that deepened concerns about tight global supply.

Marathon Petroleum was among the best performers (MPC.N), which rose 3.3% to hit an all-time high in three sessions. Valero Energy Company (VLO.N) Philips 66 (PSX.N) Both offer 5.2%.

Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) The index fell 39.54 points, or 0.11%, to 34411.69 Standard & Poor’s 500 (.SPX) It lost 0.9 points, or 0.02%, to 4,391.69 and the Nasdaq Composite Index (nineteenth) It fell 18.72 points, or 0.14%, to 13,332.36 points.

Charles Schwab Corp (SCHW.N) It fell 9.4 percent, the biggest one-day drop since March 2020, after the financial services company missed its quarterly earnings estimates.

Twitter (TWTR.N) It rose 7.5% as the “pill” micro-blogging site adopted Friday to restrict Tesla CEO Elon Musk from increasing his stake to above 15% for one year.

Didi International Company (DIDI.N) It fell 18.3% after the Chinese passenger services company said it would hold an extraordinary general meeting on May 23 to vote on its plans to delist in the United States. Read more

The S&P 500 hit 27 new highs in 52 weeks and 24 new lows; The Nasdaq recorded 59 new highs and 397 new lows.

Additional reporting by Bansari Mayor Kamdar, Sruthi Shankar and Amal S in Bengaluru and David French in New York; Editing by Arun Koyyur, Anil D’Silva and Grant McCool

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