4:30PM Cigna, Genesis Micro decline. Microsoft closed near one year low.

-Dow closed down 16.17, Nasdaq down 5.88 and S&P down 5.36 points.
-Crude oil down $2.33 to close at $72.28 per barrel.
-Gold up $1.10 to close at $668.50, silver dropped 45 cent to $13.79 and copper at $3.30.
-Yields on the 10-year bonds closed at 5.15% and 30-year bonds closed at 5.24%.

-Emerging markets in Asia were led by solid rise in Indonesia, Philippines and India.
-Latin markets closed lower after Mexico and Brazil sold-off from record levels.

Market averages lost the early drive of the day to cool-off in the last hour of trading. Oil near elevated levels, commodities and metals near record high and rising interest rates are putting pressure on the consumer spending. The collected economic data does not reflect that but market analysts are worried that consumer may begin to retrench in the coming months. Market averages closed lower but still near six year high.

Earnings from TimeWarner and Proctor & Gamble failed to excite the market. TimeWarner missed earnings and P&G missed sales forecast. Tech stocks weakened as Microsoft (MSFT: chart) traded near 52-week low on the news that the company is considering to buy a stake in Yahoo. Qualcomm (QCOM: chart) added to 69 cents to close at $51.75 and raised its guidance for the third quarter to a range of 38 cent to 40 cents from 36 cents to 38 cents. Motorola (MOT: chart) added 65 cents to close at $21.90 on a broker upgrade. Cigna (CI: chart) reported 18% drop in earnings to $2.87 and stock declined $15.50 to $90.

Emerging markets gained in Asia but in Latin America and Europe fell. Indonesia, Philippines and India rose for third day in a row. India gained 4% in the last four trading days and closed at record level. Mexico and Brazil sold a fraction after reaching record levels in yesterday’s trading. European markets closed lower on stronger euro against dollar.

3:00PM Markets turns negative after digesting earnings.
Earnings were in focus as market digested earnings from more than 225 companies. After a flood of earnings last week and this week roughly 60% of S&P 500 companies have released earnings with an average rise of more than 12.8%. At the beginning of the earnings season market was expecting earnings to grow at 11%. Time Warner (TWX: chart) reported first quarter earnings of 32 cents a share compared to 19 cents a year ago on revenue rise of 1%. AOL division lost 17% of its subscriber base and revenue dropped 7% at the division. Market was looking for higher earnings per share.

Proctor & Gamble (PG: chart) reported third quarter earnings of 63 cents vs. 59 cents a year ago on 21% rise in revenue. The stock has been on decline after hitting $63 on March 13th and was down 4% today to $55.80.

Genesis Microchip (GNSS: chart) reported loss of 1 cent vs. 20 cents a year ago. The company revealed during the conference call that due to a shift in product mix revenue for the next two quarters will be lower and industry is likely to face higher competition in the coming quarters. The stock declined 20%. The software service company reported earnings of 36 cents vs. 22 cents a year ago.

12:30PM European markets closed sharply down.
European markets extended losses to close sharply down on oil prices and weaker dollar against the euro. In currency markets, the euro traded at a one-year high of $1.2641 ahead of a European Central Bank interest-rate decision on Thursday. Shares of automakers lost ground, with BMW AG falling 2.7% and Volkswagen, down 1.7%. Deutsche Bank and insurer Allianz declined 1.7% each, despite strong quarterly results. The German DAX 30 dropped 1.4%, the French CAC 40 declined 0.9%, and London FTSE 100 fell 1.2%.

Crude oil prices dropped on an unexpected increase in crude oil and gasoline stocks. Light sweet crude June delivery fell $1.51 to $73.10 a barrel. Heating oil lost 3 cents to $2.056 a gallon. Natural gas futures fell 3 cents to $6.715 per 1,000 cubic feet. London Brent slipped 65 cents to $73.99. European gold futures retreated after surging to a new 25-year high, boosted by weaker dollar, surging oil, and tensions over Iran’s nuclear program. In London the precious metal rose to $664.60 per troy ounce, up from $663.60. In Zurich gold rose to $668.05 from $665.25. In Hong Kong gold surged $18.70 to $676.50. Silver closed at $13.80, up from $14.10. The U.S. dollar traded mixed in European trading. The euro traded at $1.2600, down from $1.2630. The dollar bought 113.67, up from 113.11 yen. The British pound was quoted at $1.8371, down from $1.8419.


11:30AM Stocks moved lower in late morning.
Stocks reversed from modest gains in early morning and moved into the negative on better-than-expected economic data, which raised concerns about the outlook for interest rates. Rate-sensitive utilities and financial stocks showed a notable weakness. Commodity stocks also generated negative sentiment as lower prices sent stocks to the downside. Gold stocks came under pressure after posting early strength, with the Amex Gold Bugs Index falling down 3% after three strong trading sessions. The weakness among gold stocks resulted from a decline in the price of the precious metal which dropped to $665.50 after reaching a high of $679.80 an ounce.

Energy stocks also moved notably lower, following a sharp drop in the price of oil on data showing unexpected increases in U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories. Oil service stocks showed a significant decline following a strong performance yesterday. Oil and natural gas stocks also moved to the downside. Shares of ConocoPhillips (COP: chart) fell 2.4%, while Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM: chart) shed 1.8%. The health insurance sector was one of the market''s worst performances in late morning trading, with the Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor Index down 3.7%. Shares of Cigna (CI: chart) fell down 11.1% after the company reported lower Q1 earnings and provided disappointing guidance. Sierra Health (SIE: chart), Health Net (HNT: chart), and Humana (HUM: chart) also posted notable losses.


Crude oil and gasoline stockpiles unexpectedly increased.
Crude oil inventories edged up in the latest week, according to government statistics released Wednesday. This followed a couple weeks of small losses. Meanwhile, stocks of gasoline also pushed higher, snapping an even longer streak of declines. The Department of Energy''s Energy Information Administration revealed that crude oil inventories advanced by 1.7 million barrels for the week ended April 28. Specifically, the measure rose to 346.7 million barrels from the prior week''s level of 345.0 million barrels.

The move in the latest period followed a decline of 200,000 barrels in the previous week and a slide of 800,000 barrels in the week before that. In the most recent week, oil inventories were 5.3% higher than their levels of the same time last year. Gasoline inventories posted a week-over-week advance of 2.1 million barrels, the government said. This broke an 8-week streak of losses, including a slide of 1.9 million barrels in the previous week. In the latest period, gasoline stocks were 4.8% below their levels of last year. Inventories of distillate fuel oil recorded a decline in the most recent week, falling by 1.1 million barrels.

New orders rose more than expected.
The Department of Commerce released its report on factory orders in the month of March on Wednesday, showing that orders rose more than expected due in part to strong growth in orders for transportation equipment. The report showed that new orders for manufactured goods rose 4.2 percent in March after an upwardly revised 0.4 percent increase in February. Economists had expected orders to rise 4.0 percent compared to the 0.2 percent increase originally reported for February. The increase reflected strong growth in new orders for manufactured durable goods, which was revised up to 6.5 percent from the 6.1 percent reported last week. New orders for manufactured non-durable goods rose 1.5 percent.

As mentioned above, orders for transportation equipment saw significant growth, increasing 14.7 percent in March after a 15.9 percent increase in February. The increase was largely due to a sharp rise in orders for commercial aircraft. The Commerce Department noted that factor orders, excluding orders for transportation equipment, rose 2.2 percent in March compared to a 2.1 percent decrease in February. The report also showed that shipments of manufactured goods rose 0.8 percent in March after falling 1.2 percent in February. Inventories of manufactured goods rose 0.7 percent in March after falling 0.4 percent in February, leaving the inventories-to-shipments ratio unchanged at 1.17.