• U.S. stocks posted slight gains on Wednesday after a volatile session kicked off 2019.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 18.78 points higher at 23,346.24 after dropping nearly 400 points earlier in the day. The S&P 500 gained 0.1percent to close at 2,510.03 while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.46 percent to 6,665.94. At their lows of the day, both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were both down more than 1 percent. Volatility was rampant in December as the S&P 500 posted its worst December since the great depression, leading to its worst year since the financial crisis in 2008.

• “Finally, we’re starting to see this buy-the-dip mentality creep into the market,” said Phil Blancato, CEO of Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management. “It’s because of valuations and it’s because the underlying data has been pretty good so far, albeit a bit softer.”

“I think the market has accepted that, it’s now capitulated and I think we grind higher here,” Blancato said.

• Stocks in Australia gained on Thursday morning even as U.S. futures pointed to another volatile session for Wall Street after Apple lowered its first quarter guidance and warned of weaker sales in China.

Japan’s stock markets are closed for a holiday on Thursday.

Reference: CNBC