4:15PM A barrage of earnings and housing market report confronted investors.

-Nasdaq closed up 12.06 points, S&P 500 gained 7.97 and Dow advanced 52.66.
-Yield on 10-year bond closed at 5.05% and 30-year bond close at 5.12%
-Crude oil fell $1.30 per barrel to close at $73.75.
-Gold traded up $4.80 to close at $618 per ounce.

-Asian Markets traded sharply higher with strong advances in Japan, India and South Korea. All eleven markets rose at close, a rare occurrence.

-European Markets rose fractionally higher. Norway gained 3.07% on Norsk Hydro quarterly results.

-Latin American Markets advanced across the region, led by a rise of 1.3% in Brazil, 1.1% in Argentina and 0.5% in Mexico.

Market traded lackluster in the early morning as a report on housing market and consumer confidence sent mixed signals. The housing market report was yet another sign of slow decline in the market but inventory of unsold home rose more than expected. The consumer confidence unexpectedly gained. Earnings reports from several large companies sent a mixed signal. UPS reported a rise in earnings but sent a signal of future lackluster earnings and slowing economy. McDonald’s, Texas Instruments, Altria, AT&T and SanDisk reported better than expected earnings.

UPS (UPS: chart), global logistics company reported second quarter earnings of 97 cents vs. 88 cents a year ago on revenue rise of 15%. The company also indicated that the board has authorized $2 billion for stock repurchase in the current quarter. Daily ground shipment volume rose 4.6%. It was the third quarter guidance that plunged the stock 10%. The company guided third quarter earnings between 86 cents a 91 cents compared to 86 cents a year ago.

McDonald’s (MCD: chart) reported revenue rise of 9.4% to $5.57 billion and earnings of $834.1 million or 67 cents per share, up from a year ago from $530 million or 42 cents per share. The current quarter recorded a gain of 10 cents per share from the sale of Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG: chart) shares in a successful IPO. Altria, parent company of Philips Morris, reported basic diluted earnings of $1.29 vs. $1.40 a year ago, down 7.9%. The company revised the guidance for the year to a range of $5.40 to $5.50 per share.

SanDisk (SNDK: chart), maker of flash memory cards for phones and cameras, reported second quarter revenue rise of 40% and earnings growth of 27% after stock expense compensation or 67% before the compensation expense. The company reported earnings per share of 47 in the quarter vs. 37 a year ago after the stock expense compensation. The stock advanced 14.7% on the news.

Netflix (NFLX: chart) fell 21% on the earnings news reported after-the-close yesterday. The company reported revenue gains of 7% from the previous quarter and 46% from a year ago. The diluted earnings in the quarter rose to 9 cents from 7 cents a year ago.

Churn for the second quarter of 2006 was 4.3%, compared to 4.7% for the second quarter of 2005 and 4.1% for the first quarter of 2006. Netflix ended the second quarter of 2006 with approximately 5,169,000 total subscribers, representing 62 percent year-over-year growth from 3,196,000 total subscribers at the end of the second quarter of 2005 and 6% sequential growth from 4,866,000 subscribers at the end of the first quarter of 2006. Net subscriber additions in the quarter were 303,000, compared to 178,000 for the same period of 2005 and 687,000 for the first quarter of 2006. During the quarter Netflix acquired 1,070,000 gross subscriber additions, representing 51% year-over-year growth from 707,000 gross subscriber additions in the second quarter of 2005 and 22% quarter-over-quarter decline from 1,377,000 gross subscriber additions in the first quarter of 2006.

12:30PM European markets closed slightly up.
European markets closed largely in the positive, giving back most of the gains from yesterday’s rally. Upbeat market sentiment was generated by strength in the mining sector and several earnings reports. Commodities stocks like Rio Tinto and Anglo-American advanced over 0.8%, boosted by an increase in commodities prices. Miner BHP Billiton also contributed to the upward move, reporting that it achieved annual production records in several metals. Shares of luxury goods retailer LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton rose 1.8% after it reported first-half sales rose 13% to 6.97 billion euros. Peers Richemont and Swatch also gained ground in Switzerland. The French CAC 40 rose 0.4%, London FTSE 100 gained 0.3%, while DAX 30 declined 0.2%.

Oil prices declined below $74 as traders locked in profits. Light crude September delivery dipped $1.10 to $73.95 a barrel. London Brent dropped $1.03 to $73.58. The dollar gained ground versus major currencies. The euro traded at $1.2619, down from $1.2629. The dollar bought 116.86 yen, up from 116.79. The British pound stood at $1.8460, down from $1.8499. European gold prices advanced. In London the precious metal traded at $621.10, up from $601.80 per ounce. In Zurich gold traded at $613.65, up from $603.85. Silver closed at $10.80, up from $10.64.


11:30AM Stocks turned to choppy trading.
U.S. stocks turned to lackluster trading, reflecting mixed earnings and economic data. Disappointing second-quarter results at UPS Inc. (UPS: chart) and 3M Co. (MMM: chart) raised concerns about the impact of higher lending rates on corporate profits, although McDonald''s Corp. (MCD: chart) and AT&T Inc. (T: chart) supported the Dow Jones industrials, posting upbeat earnings. The transportation sector turned in one of the worst market performances, dragged by UPS (UPS: chart), falling 14.8% after the package delivery company reported weaker than expected Q2 earnings and lowered its full-year guidance. Considerable weakness emerged in the brokerage sector, with Legg Mason (LM: chart) falling 10.2% due to disappointing Q2 earnings. Additionally, profit taking contributed to some weakness in the computer hardware and networking sectors. Meanwhile, oil service stocks extended yesterday’s gains, despite a decline by the price of oil.

Housing stocks moved higher, pushing the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index up 1%. The strength in the housing sector was contributed by a report which showed that existing home sales fell less than economists had expected in the month of June. In other economic news, the Conference Board said that its consumer confidence index rose to 106.5 in July from a revised 105.4 in June. Economists had expected the index to fall to 104.0 in June compared to the 105.7 originally reported in June. In late morning trading, the Dow dropped 29.94, or 0.27%. The Standard & Poor''s 500 index was down 1.90, or 0.15%, and the Nasdaq composite index lost 1.35, or 0.07%.Bonds pulled back, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note rising to 5.06% from 5.04% late Monday.

June existing home sales declined.
Tuesday morning, the National Association of Realtors released its report on existing home sales in the month of June, showing that sales fell compared to an upwardly revised reading for the previous month. The report showed that existing home sales fell 1.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.62 million units in June from an upwardly revised rate of 6.71 million units in May. Economists had expected sales to fall to a 6.60 million unit rate compared to the 6.67 million unit rate originally reported for May. The decrease in existing home sales came as sales in the South eased 2.3 percent and sales in the Northeast declined 3.5 percent. Sales in the Midwest and the West were unchanged. The report also showed that the national median existing-home price rose 0.9 to $231,000 in June from $229,000 in the same month last year. At the same time, total housing inventory levels rose 3.8 percent to 3.73 million existing homes available for sale at the end of June. This represents a 6.8-month supply at the current sales pace.

Consumer confidence index increased.
The Conference Board released its report on consumer confidence in the month of July on Tuesday, showing that its consumer confidence index increased. Economists had been expecting the index to fall compared to the previous month. The report showed that the consumer confidence index rose to 106.5 in July from a revised 105.4 in June. The increase came as a surprise to economists, who had expected the index to fall to 104.0 in June compared to the 105.7 originally reported in June. The increase by the index reflected improvement in both consumers'' assessment of the current situation and the outlook for the months ahead. The present situation index rose to 133.0 in July from 132.2 in June, while the expectations index edged up to 88.8 from 87.5. Additionally, consumers expecting business conditions to improve fell to 16.4 percent while those expecting conditions to worsen fell to 11.1 percent. The outlook for the labor market was also mixed, with those expecting more jobs to be available falling to 14.4 percent while those expecting fewer jobs fell to 16.7 percent.


10:30AM Sensex rallied on earnings, data, interest rates.
Market rallied in sympathy with the rising Asian markets but failed to attract higher daily turnover. For the last ten weeks of trading market has been trading at near low daily turnover volume for the year. However, at least for the day 1,622 stocks advanced, 751 declined and 73 stocks were unchanged. The ratio of advancing stocks to declining stocks has been trending downwards in the last ten weeks. Preliminary daily turnover volume was reported by Bombay Stock Exchange at $579 million (Rs 2,614 crores) or 10% higher than previous day but 50% lower than the peak reached in the first week in May.