Wall Street's Cautious Dance Amid Earnings and Trade Tensions

Wall Street showed caution on Thursday amid disappointing earnings from Tesla and IBM, simmering U.S.-China trade tensions, and a data drought due to a government shutdown. Tesla's profit miss and IBM's cloud segment slump weighed on markets, while quantum computing firms received a boost from federal funding talks.

Wall Street maintained a cautious stance on Thursday as lackluster earnings from major companies like Tesla and IBM dampened investor sentiment. The reluctance of investors was further compounded by ongoing U.S.-China trade tensions, overshadowing other market movements.

Tesla's shares fell 5.3% following a third-quarter profit miss, despite a revenue beat. Meanwhile, IBM's stock dropped 5.4% due to a slowdown in its cloud software growth. These developments added to the prevailing market uncertainty, as investors awaited bigger earnings reports expected next week.

Quantum computing companies saw gains after reports of potential federal funding deals, while energy stocks rose on fresh U.S. sanctions against Russia. The market's focal point remained on Friday's core CPI release, a key indicator amid the current data drought caused by the U.S. government shutdown.

(With inputs from agencies.)