"What we quite often see after these tragic events is the initial reaction in the market is quite negative -- we see this flight to safety and gold and the yen become more favored," said Craig Erlam, a senior market analyst at Oanda, based in London. "But even by the end of the [Tuesday] session we started to see a move back into the assets held previously." He said the negativity largely subsided on Wednesday. The FTSE 100 traded 0.06% higher while the CAC 40 lost 0.13%. Back by Popular Demand…“Confessions of a Street Addict� Get a FREE signed copy of Jim Cramer’s national best-seller when you gain access to his multi-million dollar charitable trust portfolio! Click here to see Jim’s holdings and get your FREE gift. As the markets continued to digest the uncertainty sparked by the tragic attacks, investors were also gearing up for the start of earnings season. "In the U.S., I think we are going to see slight improvements," Erlam said. "I think it's all going to hinder on what the expectations are going to be going into this earnings season, given what things were like at the start of the year." Must Read: 2 Sound Investment Options In Good Markets and Bad First-quarter earnings are expected to drop 8.4% year over year, according to FactSet, but Erlam insists the economy continues to improve. "I think the results are going to reflect that, but the question is how global trade and the strong dollar will affect the earnings figures,' adding that these are unknowns have lingered over the past several quarters. The markets have been rallying for five straight weeks as comments from dovish central banks propelled stocks higher. Erlam thinks the next catalyst across the markets surrounds earnings, which is likely to drive markets either way. "Things like Europe and emerging markets are potentially going to weigh on these multinational companies," Erlam added.

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