11:30AM Wall Street erased earlier gains on housing market concerns.

After the initial gains on the back of strong earnings from Boeing and Amazon, U.S. stocks fell sharply lower following the release of a report which showed a bigger-than-expected drop in existing home sales in June. The National Association of Realtors said that sales of existing homes dropped 3.8% to the slowest rate in over 4 years.

News that Wall Street companies are incapable of raising money to fund the $12 billion leveraged buy-out of DaimlerChrysler (DCX: chart) unit Chrysler by Cerberus Capital Management also generated negative mood. As a result shares of banks involved in the Chrysler underwriting declined. J.P.Morgan (JPM: chart) fell 1% and Citigroup (C: chart) lost 0.4%. Broker-dealers continued to trade up, led by Goldman Sachs (GS: chart) and Lehman Bros (LEH: chart).

On the earnings news front, health benefits group WellPoint Inc. (WLP: chart) said its Q2 net profit rose 11.2% to $1.35 a share, up from $1.17 a share on 7.7% revenue growth, meeting analyst expectations. It also raised its earnings guidance for the year. The stock dropped 3.5%. Corning Inc. (GLW: chart), supplier of high-technology components, dropped 5.5% after it posted Q2 earnings decline of 30 cents a share, off from 32 cents a year ago. Quarterly earnings and revenue missed analyst expectations.

In late morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.84, or 0.02%, to 13,714.11, after rising sharply in earlier trading. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 2.77, or 0.18%, at 1,508.27, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 4.68, or 0.18%, to 2,635.18.


09:45AM Wall Street opened higher, driven by robust earnings from Boeing, Amazon, NY Times.

Wall Street opened in the positive territory, boosted by robust earnings from Boeing Co. and Amazon.com. The Dow gained 81 points in the early going, reversing from the steep drop of over 200 points in the previous session.

The blue-chip average was led higher by 3.5% advance in the shares of Boeing (BA: chart). It swung to a Q2 profit of $1.1 billion, or $1.35 a share from a loss of $160 million, or 21 cents a share, due to growth in its commercial airplane business and 14% revenue increase. The airline carrier boosted its estimate for 2007 spending on research and development to $3.7 billion. A solid boost to the market sentiment was given by Amazon.com (AMZN: chart) which soared 25% after it said Q2 profit more than tripled on strong sales.

Among other major companies posting earnings, New York Times (NYT: chart) reported profit of $118.4 million, or 82 cents a share, higher than $59.6 million, or 41 cents a year ago, beating analyst estimates. The stock added nearly 1%. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK: chart) rose 3.6% after it reported disappointing Q2 earnings and revenue. The company unveiled a new $25 billion buyback.

Further on the earnings news front, Colgate-Palmolive Co. (CL: chart) added 0.7% after posting a 47% increase in Q2 profit. Xerox Corp. (XRX: chart) posted 2.3% increase in Q2 earnings on strong revenue from financing and office equipment servicing and supplies. The company earned 28 cents a share, slightly better than the 27 cents expected by analysts. The stock dropped 5.3%.

In midmorning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 72.11, or 0.53%, to 13,789.06. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index was up 10.15, or 0.67%, at 1,521.19, and the Nasdaq composite index gained 16.68, or 0.63%, to 2,656.54. Bond prices rose as stocks climbed, pushing the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note down to 4.92% from 4.95%late Tuesday.


9:00AM U.S. stock futures pointed higher, helped by Boeing and Amazon.

U.S. stock futures rebounded Wednesday from steep losses posted in the previous session. Stronger-than-expected results at Amazon.com and an improved earnings guidance at Boeing generated positive sentiment, helping to offset expectations of another decline in existing home sales.

Amazon (AMZN: chart) soared 23% in pre-open trading after the online retailer said its Q2 earnings tripled on 35% revenue growth. Boeing (BA: chart) rose 3% after posting a $1.05 billion profit on strong jets sales.

Among other stocks in focus, NutriSystem (NTRI: chart) dropped 12% in the pre-open, despite 70% profit increase in Q2. The company''s Q3 outlook fell below analyst expectations. S&P 500 futures climbed 7 points at 1,529.50 and Nasdaq 100 futures improved 7.5 points at 2,033.00. Dow industrial futures climbed 67 points.


8:45AM New York, 6:15 PM Mumbai – Sensex in India close lower led by cement, real estate, and infrastructure stocks.

Sensex 30 on Bombay Stock Exchange fell 95.59 to close at 15,699.33 on weakness in trading in cement, technology and auto stocks. Of the 30 stocks in Sensex 23 fell and the rest advanced. The turnover on the exchange was reported at 5,605 crore rupees, a decline from 6,464 crore rupees in the previous session.