NEW YORK — About halfway through first-quarter earnings reports, Wall Street still isn’t sure where the economy is headed.
The Dow Jones industrials closed Thursday with a late gain of about 71 points, or 0.9 percent, but only after another day of shaky, back-and-forth trading. It was almost the exact opposite of Wednesday’s pattern, when stocks waffled throughout the day and then sank late in the afternoon.
Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer’s Investment Research, said the late-day moves have not been driven by late-breaking news but by investors holding off on their trades for the day until the last minute.
The market’s movement over the past week — choppy, but sticking within a range — indicates that investors are largely hopeful but still cautious after driving stocks up more than 20 percent from March’s 12-year lows.
Earnings from several leading companies were moving the market, including Apple, eBay and PNC Financial Services. PNC’s results helped lift other bank stocks including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo.
But poor results from other companies, such as UPS and steelmaker Nucor, signaled trouble, and economic data was downbeat. Sales of existing homes fell 3 percent in March, and claims for both new and continuing unemployment benefits rose last week.
Meanwhile, a big unknown still looms over the market: The results of the government’s “stress tests,” which will measure banks’ ability to survive severe loan losses. The Federal Reserve is expected to explain its methodology for the tests today and release results on May 4.
“The most important thing that everybody’s looking for is clarity — good, bad or indifferent,” said Anthony Conroy, managing director and head trader for BNY ConvergEx Group.
On Thursday, the Dow finished up 70.49, or 0.9 percent, to 7,957.06, making up most of Wednesday’s loss of 83 points.
Broader stock indicators also finished moderately higher. The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 8.37, or 1 percent, to 851.92, and the Nasdaq composite rose 6.09, or 0.4 percent, to 1,652.21.
Ken Winans, president and chief executive of Winans International in Novato, Calif., said investors have been too quick to predict the end of the recession given difficulties like the glut of homes and mounting unemployment.
“The stars are not all going to align,” Winans said of economic readings. “Bottoms take time.”
Still, traders have been taking some comfort from companies that have so far navigated the recession with success.
