New Delhi, Sept. 24 -- When the S&P 500 shed three-quarters of a percent on Tuesday and the Nasdaq dropped more than a full point, Costco Wholesale managed a ten-basis-point gain. That is not a headline number. For investors watching a $126 billion retailer hold firm on a day when everything else stepped back, it told a story about where institutional money is parking itself ahead of Wednesday's quarterly earnings report.

COST) closed at $899.41, up $0.90 from Monday's close, as broader markets absorbed the impact of a September S&P Global manufacturing PMI reading that came in hotter than economists had projected. The 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 5.135 percent by the close. Against that backdrop, Costco's marginal advance was not n...