Wall Street is mixed as the calm continues

The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 0.1% to 28,631.53 and the Australian S&P/ASX 200 was virtually unchanged at 7,366.50.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index fell 0.1% to 20,341.89. The South Korean Kospi lost 0.3% to 2,567.96 and the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.7% to 3,347.05.

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 fell less than 0.1% to 4,154.42. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% to 33,897.01 and the Nasdaq index rose less than 0.1% to 12,157.23.

Tesla weighed heavily in the market after the electric vehicle company slashed prices on its two top-selling models, its fourth price cut in the US this year. That could indicate that Tesla is trying to boost sales amid shifting US tax credits for electric vehicles. Tesla fell 2% before releasing its latest earnings report after trading closed.

Netflix fell 3.2% after revenue for the last quarter came in weaker than analysts had expected, though earnings beat forecasts.

Elevance Health fell 5.3% despite stronger-than-expected earnings and revenue.

So far, most companies have beat earnings forecasts to hit a bar that was set particularly low given the pressure on earnings from high inflation and high interest rates slowing parts of the economy.

Intuitive Surgical rose 10.9% for one of the biggest gains in the S&P 500 after stronger-than-expected earnings and revenue for the last quarter.

Abbott Laboratories rose 7.8%, Nasdaq Inc. gained 3.1% and United Airlines soared 7.5% after also beating Wall Street earnings estimates.

Particular attention was paid to the health of banks, after higher interest rates led to the second and third largest US bank failures in history last month.

The industry giants have largely reported better-than-expected results, with several saying they benefited from the industry turmoil as customers moved their deposits to them and away from smaller banks that appeared to be at greater risk.

The fear was how much pain smaller, regional banks would show in their quarterly reports, including how many of their customers had fled. Another fear is that smaller and medium-sized banks could limit lending, further slowing the economy. The Federal Reserve said on Wednesday that several of its 12 regional districts have noticed banks tightening lending standards recently.

Western Alliance Bancorp., a Phoenix-based bank whose shares fell nearly 64% over a five-day period last month, rose sharply after it said deposits stabilized after an initial decline and have risen in recent weeks. The stock rose 24.1%, pushing most financial stocks higher.