US stocks finish slightly up

General Motors shares fell 3.5 percent to $30.83, though it said the devaluation of the yuan would have a “limited and manageable” impact on its business.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 2.66 points, or 0.1%, to close at 2,083.39.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.15 per cent from 2.14 per cent Tuesday, while the 30-year advanced to 2.84 per cent from 2.81 per cent. Bond prices and yields move inversely.

The yuan is now down about 4% against the dollar over the last two days, with analysts suggesting that Beijing wants a total pullback of around 10% in a bid to boost export competitiveness and revive growth. Spirit Airlines, American Airlines and Delta each added at least 1.6 percent. The catalyst, as it’s been so frequently over the last few years, was the promise of more stimulus from the Federal Reserve. Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) and Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) paced the losers, each dropping 0.4%.

Investors are watching as rallies and retreats alternate with uncommon speed in a market that has gone virtually nowhere in seven months, even as the average daily swing widened nearly 20 percent from a year ago.

Cisco Systems surged after posting quarterly results that topped analysts’ expectations.

Commodities are mixed. Gold and silver are pulling back after climbing recently amid the Chinese currency moves. There is “no basis for persistent and substantial devaluation”, said a deputy central bank governor, Zhang Xiaohui. While inflation remains below what the Fed would like to see, the labor markets have continued to strengthen – a key factor in the central bank’s timing of a rate hike.

While Fed credibility would in my opinion be further damaged, policymakers could spin this as merely a response to the data dependency they have stressed for months.

German automakers such as BMW, Daimler, and Volkswagen were once again hammered for their exposure to China.

“What we’re witnessing today is a lot of rebalancing in these stocks that have been badly beaten and are widely held by the hedge fund community”, said Jeffrey Yu, head of single-stock derivatives trading at UBS AG.

The S&P 500 briefly dipped into negative territory for the year during the session, and traded below its 200-day moving average, before bouncing back.

The earnings season continues, with Advance Auto Parts and Kohl’s set to report ahead of the opening bell, while Applied Materials, Weibo, Nordstrom and El Pollo Loco Holdings are among the companies scheduled to report after the close.

The bulls and the bears ended the day in a stalemate after attempting to push the stock market both lower and higher, in what turned out to be a range bound trading day.