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Stocks fall as stimulus progress stalls

It was a volatile trading session Wednesday as Wall Street swung between hope and fear as economic stimulus talks went into another day without any results.

In the end, markets finished to the downside. The Dow lost 97 points. The S&P 500 shed 7. And the Nasdaq slipped 31 points. It's sixth losing session in seven.

For right now, investors are focused on politics, says Summit Place Financial Advisors' Liz Miller.

"We had a good strong open and we gave it all back today, and I think that this is just indicative of investors trying to figure out where we're going to be. And it could be that we're going very sideways until we have this election."

Earnings season continued to give investors individual names to trade on...

Tesla topped quarterly sales forecasts, with vehicle deliveries hitting a record despite disruptions caused by the health crisis. The electric car maker predicts production at its Fremont, California factory should reach full capacity by the end of this year or early 2021.

Sales at Chipotle Mexican Grill barely topped forecasts despite a surge in online orders -that tripled from a year ago. Digital sales made up nearly half of all of last quarter's sales as consumers chose to dine at home instead. But higher costs took a big bite out of quarterly profits.

Shares of Snapchat parent Snap Inc. soared to a post-IPO high on Wednesday as investors applauded the messaging apps' user growth and sales figures.

It was different story for Netflix. It fell 7 percent after it posted its weakest subscriber gains in four years and earnings missed forecasts as well.