Markets mixed on Wednesday as investors see declines as temporary

Markets turned in mixed performances on Wednesday. The STOXX Europe 600 rose 0.1 percent but the S&P 500 fell 0.2 percent and the MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell 0.1 percent.

The fall in US stocks did not help Treasuries. US ten-year Treasury yields rose four basis points to 2.67 percent on Wednesday.

Most analysts cited by Bloomberg remain sanguine about markets.

The stock market’s decline this year is healthy and the S&P 500 probably will end 2014 higher, Leon Cooperman, chairman of hedge fund Omega Advisors Inc., said on Bloomberg Television.

BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Laurence D. Fink said in a separate interview that the recent market decline is a temporary setback as opposed to a departure from current economic growth.

“I look at this as a good old-fashioned correction,” Fink said today during an interview with Erik Schatzker and Stephanie Ruhle on Bloomberg TV’s “Market Makers.” Fink said BlackRock isn’t seeing long-term investors change their behavior.

But the outlook could change if markets continue to weaken.

The market may “unravel quickly” if the major indexes trade lower this week, Tom DeMark, the chief executive officer of DeMark Analytics LLC, said today in an interview on CNBC. If stocks fall today and open lower and trade lower tomorrow, he said, stocks are likely to continue falling regardless of Friday’s jobs data.

Economic data on Wednesday were also mixed.

In the US, private employers added 175,000 jobs in January, the fewest since August, but the Institute for Supply Management's services index rose to 54.0 last month from 53.0 in December.

In the euro area, retail sales fell 1.6 percent in December but Markit's services index rose to 51.6 in January from 51.0 in December, helping to push the composite index to 52.9 from 52.1.

In the UK, Markit's services index fell to 58.3 in January from 58.8 in December but remained well above the 50 mark indicating growth.