MarketView for February 6

Summary

Stocks ended mostly flat on Wednesday, taking another pause in the recent rally that has driven the S&P 500 to five-year highs, as transportation and technology shares lost ground. Transportation stocks were among the worst performers with CH Robinson Worldwide down 9.7 percent to close at $60.50. The shares were the largest percentage loser on the Nasdaq 100 after the freight transport company posted a lower-than-expected adjusted quarterly profit.

Without a strong catalyst, the market could struggle to continue its rally. The benchmark S&P 500 index has advanced 6 percent this year, reaching its highest level since December 2007, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has been above 14,000 recently.

Shares of Time Warner rose 4.1 percent to $52.01 after reporting higher fourth-quarter earnings that exceeded Wall Street estimates, as growth in its cable networks offset declines in film, TV entertainment and publishing units.

Amazon.com ended the day down 1.7 percent close at $262.22 and led the parade of losers on the Nasdaq. Also causing some strain on the market, investors have been speculating about leadership changes in Spain and Italy and watching for comments from European leaders, analysts said. European Central Bank policymakers are due to meet Thursday.

The Dow Jones Transportation average was down 0.19 percent after hitting another record high on Tuesday. The average is up 10.7 percent for the year so far and has made a series of new highs since mid-January.

According to Thomson Reuters data, of 301 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings, 68.1 percent have exceeded analysts' expectations, above a 62 percent average since 1994 and 65 percent over the past four quarters. In terms of revenue, 65.8 percent of companies have topped forecasts.

Fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are estimated to have risen 4.7 percent, according to the data, above a 1.9 percent forecast at the start of the earnings season.

Walt Disney was up 0.4 percent at $54.52, after the company beat estimates for quarterly adjusted earnings and gave an optimistic outlook for the next few quarters.

Approximately 6.5 billion shares changed hands on the three major equity exchanges, as compared with the 2012 average daily closing volume of about 6.45 billion shares.