Bryan R. Smith / AFP via Getty Images
- The S&P 500 pulled back from record highs on Wednesday as the first-quarter trading season began.
- Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo each turned in earnings reports that were better than anticipated.
- Wall Street turned the spotlight on Coinbase during the cryptocurrency exchange's trading debut.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
US stocks edged back from record highs Wednesday, with the S&P 500 index hurt as technology shares lost ground while earnings beats by big banks helped fuel gains in the financial sector.
The equity market was choppy after the S&P 500 began at a record high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record intraday high, powered by gains for Goldman Sachs, which beat revenue and profit expectations on strong trading and investment banking revenue. JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo also turned in profit that surpassed Wall Street's targets.
Here's where US indexes stood at 4 p.m. on Wednesday:
- S&P 500: 4,124.84, down 0.4%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 33,732.14, up 0.16% (54.87 points)
- Nasdaq Composite: 13,857.84, down 1%
The earnings beats by the banks "put recovery stocks right back on track. Nasdaq is negative today … retail is up, banks are up, energy is up and we're back to those value stocks," Eric Diton, president and managing director of investment advisory firm The Wealth Alliance, told Insider. Value stocks "still have a tremendous amount of catch-up to play and in every economic recovery, value outperforms and it's happening now."
Wall Street also turned its attention to Coinbase, the first cryptocurrency exchange to make a public debut. Shares began trading midday at $381, and popped 13% to an intraday high of $429.54.
Around the markets, Credit Suisse reportedly put $2 billion of Archegos-linked stocks on the market after the hedge fund's meltdown. Part of the stock offering included Discovery Communications whose shares were lower Wednesday.
The First North American bitcoin ETF surged beyond $1 billion under management.
Gold fell 0.6% to $1,736.40 per ounce. Long-dated US treasury yields rose, with the 10-year yield at 1.638%.
Oil prices rose as weekly US crude inventories fell by more than expected. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 5% to $62.93 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, moved up 4.5% to $66.41 per barrel.
Bitcoin fell to $61,888.