By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks on Monday shifted to
little changed, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average was hit as
component McDonald's Corp. reported second-quarter earnings short
of expectations.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) fell 13 points, or 0.1%,
to 15,530.74, with fast-food chain McDonald's (MCD) pacing the
declines, its shares off 2.4% after the release of its results. The
company said its "results for the remainder of the year are
expected to remain challenged."
The S&P 500 index (SPX) added 1 point to 1,693.11, with
materials and technology pacing gains and energy and consumer
discretionary leading its sector losses. The Nasdaq Composite
(RIXF) rose 6.4 points, or 0.2%, to 3,594.02.
Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) shares fell 3.5% on news Dan Loeb of Third
Point is stepping down from the board and unwinding a part of the
hedge fund's stake in the search engine. (Read more on Monday
movers:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/mondays-movers-himax-technologies-newmont-2013-07-22.)
Advancers remained ahead of decliners on the New York Stock
Exchange, where 116 million shares traded as of 10:20 a.m. Eastern
time. Composite volume surpassed 520 million.
Monday's economic reports had existing-home sales falling 1.2%
to 5.08 million in June. Economists polled by MarketWatch expected
sales to have risen 1.9% last month to a seasonally adjusted rate
of 5.28 million.
"Despite the decline, this is still one of the strongest gains
seen during the recovery," noted Dan Greenhaus, chief global
strategist at BTIG LLC, in emailed commentary.
Stock-index futures on Monday offered little reaction to the
Chicago Federal Reserve's national activity index, which rose to
negative 0.13 in June from negative 0.29 in May.
The price of crude (CLU3) fell eight cents to $107.79 a barrel
on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The price of gold (GCQ3) jumped 2.6% to $1,326.50 on the
Comex.
The S&P 500 on Friday capped a fourth week of gains to close
at an all-time high.
"With the first major week of earnings behind us, a few things
are quite clear. First, earnings are not coming in as badly as
feared," said Greenhaus of results from roughly 100 S&P 500
companies.
Dominated by financials, last week's earnings reports were
"almost all better than expected," and as a result, "overall
expected earnings growth for the S&P saw its first move higher
in some time," Greenhaus added.
On Monday, Halliburton Co. (HAL) reported a drop in quarterly
profit, but shares of the oilfield-services company climbed 0.4%
after it said it had made more headway outside the U.S. market and
announced plans to increase its stock-repurchase program by about
$4 billion.
Hasbro Inc. (HAS)reported second-quarter results below
expectations, hit by a sharp decline in the sale of toys for boys.
Last week, competitor Mattel Inc. (MAT) reported a drop in
second-quarter net income, which was dented by weakness in Barbie
sales.
Results still coming Monday include Netflix Inc. (NFLX), with
the video-subscription service reporting after the close.
On Tuesday, earnings from Apple Inc. (AAPL) are expected to
throw some light on consumer-spending habits as its sales are
driven by discretionary purchases. A lackluster earnings report
from Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) last week sent the shares tumbling 11%
on Friday, but they climbed 1.3% on Monday.
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