[R]1:00PM NY, 5:00 PM Frankfurt European markets closed down, weighed by Volvo, Siemens.[/R]

European stock markets ended lower on Wednesday for a second straight session, dragged by disappointing earnings and guidance from Volvo, Randstad and Siemens. News about another delay of the sale of Chrysler''s bonds also weighed. Across the region, Germany led decliners with a drop of 1.5%, followed by France, down 1.2% and the U.K. losing 0.7%.

Volvo dropped 9% after it reported a 14% profit decline on weakness in the North American truck market. Dutch recruitment firm Randstad fell 16.4% amid slower sales growth.

In Frankfurt Siemens fell 6.4% after the company reported Q2 loss of $758 million and forecasted weaker-than-expected sales growth. On the side of the gainers, DaimlerChrysler rose 1.8% after the auto maker posted partial Q2 results with earnings at its Mercedes car division up 74%.

In Paris automakers were also in the spotlight. Peugeot-Citroen slipped 5.9% as the group''s margins raised concerns. Rival Renault dropped 3.5% ahead of earnings release after the bell. Shares of luxury-goods retailer Hermes fell 3.6%, due to a slight reduction of its same-store sales forecast. Business Objects climbed 7.4% after the software maker posted tripled Q2 profit and lifted its earnings outlook for the year.

In London recruitment firms Michael Page dropped 5.2%, while Hays fell 4.1%. Chipmaker CSR dropped 11.3% as the company warned of lower Q4 revenue. British insurance firms Friends Provident and Resolution fell 1.2% and 2.4%, respectively after they confirmed a merger talk of $17.7 billion deal. Among movers to the upside, GlaxoSmithKline shares rose 2.3% after it reported a flat Q2 profit, and also announced an increase in its share-buyback program to $25 billion.


[R]11:30AM Wall Street erased earlier gains on housing market concerns.[/R]

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.


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

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.