Wall Street ekes out a small gain for first turbulent trading day of 2019

• Indexes on Wall Street eked out a slight gain on Wednesday following a rally in oil which helped improve risk sentiment.
• Dow recovers from a 400 point session low.
• The S&P 500 also ended up by 0.1% to end near 2,510, and the Nasdaq Composite closed higher by 0.5% to around 6,666.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added around 19 points, or 0.1%, to 23,346 by the close of a yet another turbulent day on Wall Street. Global growth concerns were offset by a sharp rebound in oil prices. 

Initially, sentiment was undermined after China's Caixin/IHS Markit manufacturing sector Purchasing Managers' Index revealed a drop from 50.2 in November to 49.7 in December. This marked the first contraction in 19 months and fell short of expectations for a reading of 50.1.

The weakness in the Chinese data, initially, even overshadowed wires that US President Trump was reaching out to Congress to help end the partial government shutdown, reportedly inviting congressional leaders to a White House briefing on border security on Wednesday. As for company news, shares for Tesla Inc. TSLA, +0.10% fell 7% after the maker of electric cars reported fourth-quarter deliveries that were below analysts' expectations.  On the domestic data front, the seasonally-adjusted IHS Markit final US manufacturing purchasing managers' index printed at 53.8 in December, down from 55.3 the month before, marking a 15-month low amid a weaker rise in new business and the joint-softest expansion in output since September 201

DJIA levels

Meanwhile, the index holds above the 38.2% Fibo retracement of the Dec decline from 26072 and bulls can target the 50% retracement Fibo of 23765. Technical indicators continue to support an upside bias, although Wednesday’s doji after a series of positive closes should be a warning to bulls.