MarketView for Febuary 12

Summary

The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged on Wednesday, with a four-day rally in the index just barely coming to an end after Procter & Gamble cut its outlook, though some positive earnings limited the decline and eased concerns that valuations had become stretched. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq rose for a fifth straight session, boosted by strong results at TripAdvisor, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average felt the pressure from P&G and ended the day slightly lower.

The S&P 500 gained 3.9 percent over the past four sessions, its best four-day performance in 13 months. The move put it about 1.6 percent below its record closing high of 1,848.38 set on January 15.

The recent advance came after Wall Street's sharpest drop in more than a year, with a selloff triggered by turmoil in emerging markets. Those issues still play into markets, with Procter & Gamble saying its lower full-year earnings and sales outlook was related to the devaluation of currencies in various developing markets. Shares of P&G ended the day down 1.7 percent to close at $77.49.

In other earnings news, TripAdvisor was the S&P 500's largest percentage gainer, climbing 7.2 percent to $90.27 a day after the travel website company reported revenue that beat expectations.

Owens Corning was up 8.7 percent to close at $43.20 after the building products manufacturer reported adjusted fourth-quarter profits that more than tripled, driven by a rebound in the housing market.

Of 365 companies in the S&P 500 that had reported earnings through Wednesday morning, 67.7 percent have beaten profit expectations, above the long-term average of 63 percent, according to Thomson Reuters’ data. More than 66 percent have beaten revenue forecasts, above the historical average of 61 percent. Still, there are signs of weakness, with 4.8 companies warning about their first-quarter results for every one with positive guidance, according to Thomson Reuters data.

After the market closed, Cisco Systems fell 4.2 percent to $21.88 after the network equipment maker reported a drop in revenue, though the decline was less than expected.

Whole Foods lost 6.4 percent to close at $51.90 after the chain cut its full-year sales and profit view. NetApp fell 3.7 percent in extended-hours trading following the company's release of quarterly results after the market closed.

Amazon.com fell 3.5 percent to $349.25 after UBS downgraded the stock of the world's largest online retailer to "neutral," while the shares of both Lorillard and Intuit slumped after their results.

Shares of Lorillard fell 5 percent to $47.47. The stock of mobile payment company Intuit dropped 4.1 percent to $69.72.

AMCOL International was up 12.3 percent to close at $41.24 after it agreed to be acquired by France's Imerys for about $1.6 billion, including debt.

About 5.71 billion shares changed hands on the major equity exchanges, according to BATS exchange data.