There was a lot of potential today, but not a whole lot of direction.

After a slightly lower start, stocks traded sideways.

There was a small drop during lunch, but stocks bounced back.

Then after a choppy afternoon, the major indices slowly drifted higher into the close.

Today was the 2nd day of testimony from Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

But without any major updates, stocks didn’t react much to his comments.

Here’s where the major indices ended the day:

  • The S&P finished with a 0.1% gain. Up 3 points, the S&P ended at 3,097.
  • The DOW ended flat. Dropping 2 points, the DOW closed at 27,782.
  • The NASDAQ was also flat. With just a 3 point gain, the NASDAQ finished at 8,479.

Crude Oil (CL) remained stuck around the $57 mark. In fact, in the last 7 trading days, Crude Oil hasn’t closed above or below $57 a barrel by more than 27 cents. With a 0.5% loss, CL finished the day at $56.83 a barrel.

With earnings season coming to an end, two of the biggest names reporting, Cisco Systems (CSCO) and Walmart (WMT), reported mixed results.

Cisco was down 7.3% after lowering their forecasts for the quarter.

Walmart rallied to a record high and was up more than 3.0% before dropping and finishing the day with a small 0.3% loss.

In after-hours trading, RH (RH) jumped 7.5% on news that Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB) has a new position in the company.

The 13F filing for Berkshire Hathaway shows a 1.2 million shares position in the furniture company (formerly known as Restoration Hardware) and a 7.5 million position in Occidental Petroleum (OXY).

The filing that reflects positions held at the end of the third quarter, also showed that Berkshire Hathaway reduced their position in Wells Fargo (WFC) by 7.0%.

Analyst downgrades contributed to a slide in Apple (AAPL) and Kraft Heinz (KHC). Apple finished with a 0.7% loss and Kraft Heinz lost 7.0%.

With Powell’s testimony out of the way, traders will keep an eye on any trade developments tomorrow. We’ll also get Retail Sales data in the morning at 8:30am ET.

Trading Futures, options on futures and retail off-exchange foreign currency transactions involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors. You should carefully consider whether trading is suitable for you in light of your circumstances, knowledge, and financial resources. You may lose all or more of your initial investment. The lower the day trade margin, the higher the leverage and riskier the trade. Leverage can work for you as well as against you; it magnifies gains as well as losses. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.

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