U.S. stock market indexes opened mixed on the last day of July. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 54 points to 21,883.97, hitting a new high as investors remained optimistic about second-quarter earnings. On the other hand, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures lost two points to 2,469.78 and futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell 33.5 points to 6,351.85.
Alliance Holdings GP LPĂ‚ (AHGP, Financial) shares were up almost 13% in morning trading despite the company reporting lower-than-expected earnings and revenue for its second quarter. The company increased its quarterly distribution by 32.7% to 73 cents per share. EPS of 71 cents came in short of expectations by 11 cents, while revenue of $398.62 million missed by $62.68 million and is down 9.2% year over year.
Navigant Consulting Inc. (NCI, Financial) is losing ground by 15% as the company reported second-quarter EPS of 24 cents on revenue of $235.24 million. Sales declined 1.4% year over year, missing revenue estimates by $18.42 million, while earnings also missed expectations by nine cents per share.
Other stocks to watch
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD, Financial), Bank of America Corp. (BAC, Financial), Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. (SNI, Financial), Discovery Communications Inc. (DISCA, Financial), Altria Group Inc. (MO, Financial), Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK, Financial), Facebook Inc. (FB, Financial), Comcast Corp. (CMCSA, Financial), Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ, Financial) and Starbucks Corp. (SBUX, Financial) .
Gainers
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR), Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP), Valero Energy Corp. (VLO), FLIR Systems Inc. (FLIR), Affiliated Managers Group Inc. (AMG), Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY), Foot Locker Inc”‹. (FL), Iron Mountain Inc. (IRM), Quanta Services Inc. (PWR) and Comcast.
Losers
Discovery Communications, Range Resources Corp. (RRC), Chesapeake Energy, Coach Inc. (COH), EQT Corp. (EQT), Altria, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT), Rockwell Collins Inc. (COL) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN).
Global markets
The growth of consumer prices in Europe remained stable at 1.3% in July. Meanwhile, core inflation rose 1.2%, its highest level in three months. Unemployment fell to 9.1% in the previous month. In this scenario, the main European stock markets traded at the beginning of the week with slight increases, awaiting inflation in the eurozone. The FTSE 100 and the IBEX 35 advanced 0.51% and 0.08, while the DAX and the CAC 40 fell 0.26% and 0.25%.
In Asia, markets closed higher. China’s Shanghai Composite Index, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index and India’s BSE Sensex closed in green territory, while Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.17%.
Disclosure: The author holds no position in any stocks mentioned.
