Volatile session on Wall St with a weakish bias

Volatile session on Wall St with a weakish bias; mixed bag for financial earnings; Wells Fargo beats estimates while Morgan Stanley misses consensus; Indian ADRs mixed, ICICI Bk down 3.37%

A late rally in the US markets collapsed on sell-off in financials, some consumer and energy stocks. Techs outperformed the broader market for most of the day but declined in the sell off. The loss in financials were led by Morgan Stanley as the stock skidded 9% after the investment bank said credit troubles hampered earnings. The company’s loss of 57 cents a share badly missed expectations of an 8-cent loss, and it cut its dividend to 5 cents a share.

Wells Fargo reported record earnings of $ 3.05 billion. Its shares spent most of the session in higher ground after the company reported slightly better than expected earnings. However heading into the close, the stock surrendered its gains to join the decliners in the sector.

After the bell, Apple posted stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings as sales of its iPhones and iPod topped forecasts, sending shares up 3%. The company gave a typically conservative outlook for the next quarter, with profit and revenue forecasts below the Wall Street estimates. Net profit rose to $ 1.21 billion, in its second quarter, from $ 1.05 billion a year-ago and revenue rose 8.7% to $ 8.16 billion.

Yahoo shares rose 0.7% after the internet portal met analysts’ earnings target, helped by cost-cutting efforts, and said it would cut its global workforce by 5%. Shares of GM retreated following news that it won’t be able to make a June 1 debt payment of $ 1 billion.

At closing bell, the Dow Jones lost 1%, the S&P 500 shed 0.8%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.1% in anticipation of solid results from Apple.

Indian ADRs ended mixed on Wednesday. In Banking space, ICICI Bank was down 3.37% at $ 16.06 and HDFC Bank was down 2.15% at $ 69.08. In Telecom space, MTNL was down 2.74% at $ 2.84 and Tata Communication was down 0.93% at $ 22.42.

In IT space, Satyam Computers was down 3.08% at $ 1.89 while Infosys was up 2.5% at $ 27.89, Wipro was up 4.41% at $ 8.52 and Patni Computers was up 1.88% at $ 7.05.

In other sectors, Sterlite Industries was down 3.29% at $ 7.35, Tata Motors was up 1.59% at $ 7.05 and Dr Reddy’s Labs was up 2.26% at $ 10.85.