US markets flat as investors mull corporate earnings
US stocks closed mostly flat on Wednesday following another day of mixed company results. The markets have been digesting quarterly earnings from the biggest American banks, with Morgan Stanley reporting a sharp decline in profits earlier in the day. The Wall Street bank's shares ended the day up 0.7 percent, while streaming company Netflix saw its stock fall by 3.2 percent after the release of its first quarter results as well. The Dow Jones as down 0.2 percent at 33,897, while the S&P 500 was almost unchanged at 4,154. The Nasdaq was also relatively flat at 12,157. The flat financial markets were a reflection of the "pretty mixed" earnings results over the last few days, said Maris Ogg from Tower Bridge Advisors. "We'll see what happens when we really start getting the regional banks next week," she added. US regional banking stocks were pummeled last month after the rapid collapse of Californian lender Silicon Valley Bank led concerned investors to pull their deposits. United States and European regulators took some dramatic action to stem outflows, which appears to have calmed the financial markets. Earlier on Wednesday, the Federal Reserve said lending had declined in many parts of the country over recent weeks amid concerns about the banking sector. (AFP)