A stocks rally on optimism over talks to avert a catastrophic US debt default ran out of steam on Thursday. Wall Street stocks jumped on Wednesday as investors were reassured that a deal would be done to avoid the US government defaulting on its massive debt that would likely trigger a cataclysm on markets. That sent Asian markets higher as trading got under way on Thursday, with European stocks following. But Wall Street opened mixed on Thursday despite Walmart posting better-than-expected first quarter results and raising its annual profit forecast, with the Dow shedding 0.2 per cent. The S&P 500 dipped while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite edged higher. Walmart shares jumped 2.1 per cent as trading got under way. "Market participants continue to contend with a lot of mixed signals that make it difficult to have a lot of conviction on both the buy side and the sell side," said market analyst Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com. While Walmart's results were mostly reassuring following a dismal release by Home Depot earlier this week, another US regional economic survey pointed to contraction while first-time unemployment claims fell last week to 242,000. 'Keep the market...
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