Stock Market News for July 28, 2010

Stocks failed to add on to their recent gains, falling modestly, as a drop in consumer confidence offset better-than-expected earnings reports from big names such as DuPont and UBS. The Dow industrials recorded their fourth straight-session gain, helped by DuPont’s solid quarterly numbers. 

The Dow Jones industrial average, up more than 400 points in the past three days, rose 12.26 points, or 0.1%, to 10,537.69. The Dow average has gained almost 8% in July. The widely followed Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 1.17 points, or 0.1%, to 1,113.84, while the Nasdaq composite index dropped 8.18, or 0.4%, to 2,288.25. On the New York Stock Exchange, declining shares beat those that advanced in price by an eight-to-seven margin on volume of 1.11 billion shares.

This morning’s stock futures appear somewhat subdued as investor await reports on durable goods sales and the latest on economic conditions from the Fed's district banks. Nevertheless, Asian markets recorded gains today, with the Shanghai Composite index up 2.3%, near a two-month high, and the Nikkei up 2.7%, after a senior Chinese banking official pledged monetary policy stability likely in the second half, and European bourses also marked gains on the compromise on Basel III capital rules.

Action on the S&P500 was mixed yesterday.  Four sectors closed in the red, including consumer services and basic materials (-1.1%), industrials (-0.8%), and oil and gas (-0.4%). Those recording gains were utilities (+1.4%), consumer goods and telecommunications (+0.2%), financials and tech (+0.1%) with health care unchanged.

The U.S. Treasury auctions $37 billion of five-year notes Wednesday, after a $38 billion auction of two-year bonds recorded the lowest yield on record Tuesday. The Treasury sells $29 billion of seven-year notes Thursday.

DuPont (NYSE:DD) topped the list of DJIA gainers, up 3.6%, after the firm reported a near three-fold jump in second-quarter earnings and raised its full-year guidance on revenue gains from better volume and higher prices.  Financials gained on better-than-expected earnings numbers from Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) and UBS (NYSE:UBS). Deutsche Bank added 2.7% and UBS jumped 8.5%.

US Steel (NYSE:X) shares dropped 6.7% after its unexpected second-quarter loss came with a warning that the third quarter results could be even worse, due to a "gradual and uneven" recovery in the US and Europe. Shares in AK Steel (NYSE:AKS) fell 4.9%, despite its better-than-expected results, as its view that average selling prices will drop 5% disappointed investors.

The earnings calendar is busy with results due from Aetna (NYSE:AET) Boeing (NYSE:BA), Coca-Cola Enterprises (NYSE:CCE), Conoco Phillips (NYSE:COP), Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA), Constellation Energy Group (NYSE:CEG), Corning (NYSE:GLW) and Visa (NYSE:V) and WellPoint (NYSE:WLP).

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