Stocks Hug Flat Line in Earnings Misses, Warnings

Well, Obama won the debate Tuesday night. Anyone who doesn't believe that wasn't paying attention or is seminally biased toward Republicans, One-Percenters, Mormons or all three.

Thus, in addition to a revenue miss from IBM and some warnings from Intel - both Dow components - the wicked mid-earnings-season rally was cut short on Wednesday, though the S&P and NYSE Composite were the percentage winners on the day.

It could be some rotation out of blue chips into, yep, more speculative stocks, which would make sense considering the Fed will continue to pump money in the general direction of Wall Street until its had enough, whatever that level may be.

To take the markets down, there has to be some kind of serious issues, at least something more serious than what financiers everywhere continue to deny: the great indebtedness of sovereign nations and central bank profligacy, but, with options expiry on Friday, this rally seems to have run out of steam rather abruptly, though one could hardly guess that from the new highs on the NYSE (245).

Queueing Europe in 3...2...1...

Dow 13,557.00, +5.22 (0.04%)
NASDAQ 3,104.12, +2.95 (0.10%)
S&P 500 1,460.91, +5.99 (0.41%)
NYSE Composite 8,446.52, +60.05 (0.72%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,777,785,875
NYSE Volume 3,654,417,500
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 3558-1876
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 350-45
WTI crude oil: 92.12, +0.03
Gold: 1,753.00, +6.70
Silver: 33.23, +0.273