Wall Street ekes out a small gain, ablite Dow ends in the red again

• Wall Street ends the day mixed but Dow lags.
• The DJIA index found support on the 200-DMA.

U.S. stocks eked out modest gains again on Wednesday, rallying in the final hours of the US session despite the notion that neither the US nor China will find a solution to their differences in trade agreements for the foreseeable future.

Initially, the markets opened on a firmer note following a softer tone from Washington on the trade war. However, volatility remained high due to less volume, likely to do with the summer holidays, and there were two way flows which sent stocks lower before they recovered again.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, DJIA, ended 22.45 points lower, or less than 0.1%, to 26,007.07, after sinking 2.3% or 589 points, at the session low. The S&P 500 index SPX, ended 2.21 points, or 0.1%, higher at 2,883.98, recovering from a near 2% loss at the start of the session. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 29.56 points, or 0.4% to 7,862.83 and was reversing the intraday 130-point slide.

US data

"Mortgage application data for the US jumped last week for the first time since the end of June. However, this was driven by refinancing activity of existing homeowners taking advantage of lower rates rather than new home purchases," analysts at ANZbank explained. 

DJIA levels

The DJIA index found support on the 200-DMA again and claimed back the 26000s, again. However, bears can look to the June swing lows down at 24680 on further declines. The 200-DMA remains a line in the sand and on the upside, an extension of the correction opens the 78.6% Fibo target of 26103.