US stocks mostly edge higher as investors buy the dip after big sell-off and brace for more tech earnings

• US stocks largely rose on Wednesday, while the Nasdaq ended flat, as investors bought the dip following Tuesday's 2% sell-off.
• Investors are bracing for a slew of mega-cap tech earnings from Amazon, Apple, and Meta Platforms.
• Of the 155 companies on the S&P 500 that have reported earnings so far, overall results are beating income estimates by a median of 7%.

US stocks largely edged higher on Wednesday, while the Nasdaq ended flat, after falling more than 2% on Tuesday as investors continue to digest a slew of first-quarter earnings results.

Mega-cap tech giants Microsoft and Alphabet offered mixed signals late Tuesday, with Microsoft beating estimates while Alphabet missed income estimates but beat revenue estimates. Shares of Microsoft were up about 5% on Wednesday, while Alphabet sold off about 5%.

Investors now await earnings results from Amazon, Apple, and Meta Platforms, which are set to be released after the bell on Wednesday.

Of the 155 companies that have reported earnings results so far, representing 31% of the S&P 500, overall results are beating income estimates by a median of 7%, according to data from Fundstrat. On the top line, overall results are beating revenue estimates by a median of 3%.

Here's where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. ET close on Wednesday:

• S&P 500: 4,183.92, up 0.21%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 33,301.93, up 0.19% (61.75 points)
• Nasdaq Composite: 12,488.93, down 0.01%

Archegos Capital Management founder Bill Hwang was arrested on Wednesday and charged by the Justice Department with securities fraud, wire fraud, and racketeering conspiracy. According to charging documents, Hwang was able to increase the leverage of Archegos to $160 billion from $10 billion by deceiving various banks.

European gas prices surged as much as 28% on Wednesday after Russia halted supplies to Poland and Bulgaria, stoking concern that other countries in the continent could be targeted for their support for Ukraine.

Robinhood stock fell 5% after the company said it would cut 9% of its workforce. The trading app explained that after it experienced hypergrowth last year, it overhired and had jobs with overlapping responsibilities.

Facebook parent Meta Platforms dropped as much as 6% Wednesday afternoon after a false report of weak second-quarter guidance from Bloomberg. Shares of the social media giant dipped briefly to around $169 each before rebounding slightly.

Tesla stock erased $126 billion in its market capitalization on Tuesday, with the stock plunging 12%. The move lower came just one day after Tesla's Elon Musk agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion. The heightened volatility in Tesla stock could threaten Musk's purchase of Twitter, as he put up millions of Tesla shares as collateral for loans.

Digital World Acquisition soared as much as 23% as Musk tweeted about Twitter's competitor, Truth Social. "Truth Social (terrible name) exists because Twitter censored free speech," he tweeted on Wednesday.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose as much as much as 0.45% to $102.16 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, rose as much as 0.46% to $105.47.

Bitcoin rose 1.36% to $38,873. Ether prices rose 0.82% to $2,859.

Gold fell as much as 0.93% to $1,886.60 per ounce. The yield on the 10-year Treasury added eight basis points to 2.82%.