The S&P 500 Index (SPY  ) rose higher on Wednesday as stocks benefited from a series of strong earnings reports from the financial sector. Investors remain cautious, however, as rising trade tensions between the United States and China and the U.S. government shutdown continued to impact long-term outlooks.

The broader market index rose 0.4% to end the day at 6,671.06 on Wednesday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA  ) settled slightly below its flatline at 46,253.31. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (QQQ  ) closed up nearly 0.7% at 22,670.08 after rallying as much as 1.4% earlier in the session.

"If no short-term truce is reached and the proposed measures go forward, however, the result would be effectively an embargo on all Chinese exports to the U.S., disruption to U.S. manufacturing production, an intensification of U.S. efforts to hinder China's development of its semiconductor industry, and possibly the restriction of other U.S. exports to China," Reinhart.

In the news, Citi analysts called Walmart's (WMT  ) partnership with OpenAI, which allows customers to make purchases through ChatGPT, a "win" for the big-box retailer.

"We believe the announcement highlights WMT's focus on making shopping convenient and efficient for consumers (and being wherever they want to shop) and their ability to remain at the cutting edge of technology," the analysts wrote. "It is yet another way WMT is showing it is ahead of the curve."