Earnings Are a Convenient Excuse for Market Lurches
For a better explanation, look at the tightening of financial conditions as a reason for the recent swings.
Stocks stage big rebound Thursday.
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Relax. Breathe. Thursday’s action in the U.S. constituted an almost perfect reversal of the day that had come before it. Tech stocks led the market down on Wednesday and led it straight back up again Thursday. It was tempting to act as if the big Wednesday sell-off had not happened. But sadly, that would be a mistake.
One reason for caution came readily enough with hindsight. Two big companies reported after the closing bell. Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet, the parent company of Google Inc., both of which enjoyed a good day in the market, published their results for the third quarter, and immediately gave back all their gains in after-market trading as traders found them a bit disappointing. The trajectory was spectacular: