By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – The S&P 500 swung between gains and losses Tuesday, as investor sentiment remained cautious ahead of the third-quarter quarter earnings season and ongoing concerns about slowing growth.

It fell by 0.01% and was flat. The was up 0.1%.

The Wall Street banks are about to start the quarter-end earnings season. Investors have just days to prepare, but they’re not giving up.

The favorable environment of rising rates has continued to help the banking sector, with stocks up around 40%.  

JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:) reports third-quarter results Wednesday, followed by Citigroup (NYSE:) Thursday.

Lending growth is likely to be the most closely followed metrics, as it has declined since the pandemic.

Large tech was mostly down, struggling to recover from the slow start to the week, even though Treasury yields fell, which is a foe for growth stocks.

Google-parent Alphabet, Apple (NASDAQ) and Facebook (NASDAQ) all fell in red while Amazon (NASDAQ) was also in red.

Apple, meanwhile, said it plans to launch an event on Oct. 18, during which the company could unveil new MacBook laptops and AirPods headphones.

After auction results showed that demand was strong, the rate fell to 1.6%.

Fed members remain concerned by above-trend inflation, ahead of Wednesday’s inflation report.

“Underlining inflation is indeed above the committees 2% objective,” Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic said Tuesday, “Severe and pervasive supply chain issues will probably last longer than initially expected.

The persistent inflation concerns come as global growth slows, causing investor anxiety about stagflation.

International Monetary Fund cut its global gross national product by 0.1% to 5,9% from 6.0% in July.

Expect the U.S. to announce Wednesday that their consumer price index increased by 5.3% in September and October.

But not everyone is jumping on the stagflation bandwagon, with some suggesting that it’s only matter of time before supply starts to catch up with strong demand.

“Clogged supply chains and sharply higher commodity prices have intensified the debate around stagflation. We find little in the outlook to support the theory and believe the role of demand is underappreciated,” Morgan Stanley Note from (NYSE:).

Washington’s House will vote to approve the Short-Term Debt Ceiling Increase of $480 Billion later Tuesday. It provides funding for the U.S. through early December. It is anticipated that the legislation will be approved before the Oct. 18 deadline in order to prevent the U.S. from defaulting on its obligations.