US stocks started the day with little gains on Thursday, 29 July 2010 but then faltered for the rest of the day following some disappointing earning reports. Better than expected economic data failed to pull stocks up in the course of the day. Fed official's warning on deflation also soured overall investor sentiment.

For the day, that ended on Thursday, 29 July 2010, Dow ended lower by 30.72 points at 10,467.16. Nasdaq ended lower by 12.87 points at 2,251.67. S&P 500 ended lower by 4.6 points at 1,101.53. Dow was trading higher by almost 8 points earlier during the day.

Seven of ten economic sectors ended in the red led by utilities, consumer staples and technology sectors. Financial sector was the sole winner while healthcare and materials sectors ended unchanged. Majority out of thirty Dow components ended lower today led by Kraft Foods and Procter and Gamble.

Most of the earning reports today disappointed investors. Among major earning reports, latest earnings and forecasts from Akamai and NVIDIA did not please investors and the technology sector settled with a big loss. Consumer staples were down in response to disappointing reports from Colgate-Palmolive and Kellogg. Colgate reported second-quarter sales that fell below analysts estimates and cut its 2010 profit view because of currency devaluation in Venezuela.

Nevertheless, the energy industry had some big names reporting earnings and all topping expectations. But shares of Dow component Exxon Mobil also finished lower, even after the oil giant reported a near-doubling of second-quarter income.

Reportedly, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard warned against a Japanese-style deflationary trap stemming from the central bank's extended period of low interest rates. The same also led to somber mood among investors.

Among economic report scheduled for the day, The Labor Department in US reported on Thursday, 29 July 2010 that the number of people applying for initial state unemployment insurance benefits fell 11,000 to 457,000 in the week ended 24 July 2010 against an expected level of 460,000. The initial claims level for the week ended 17 July was revised 4,000 higher to 468,000. The claims data measure the number of workers who lost their jobs through no fault of their own and were eligible for unemployment benefits.

The four-week average of initial claims, a better gauge of employment trends than the volatile weekly number fell 4,500 to 452,500, reaching the lowest level since May.

Continuing claims in the week ended 17 July rose 81,000 to 4.57 million. The four-week average of these continuing claims fell 18,000 to 4.55 million, hitting the lowest level since late December 2008.

Initial state claims are about 21% below the prior's year level. The level of continuing claims is about 26% less than in the prior year.

In the currency market on Thursday, the dollar index, which measures the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, fell by 0.7%.

Crude oil prices managed to pare their earlier losses on Thursday, 29 July 2010 at Nymex and ended substantially higher for the day. Prices rose due to weak dollar and better than expected initial claims data. On Thursday, crude oil futures for light sweet crude for September delivery closed at $78.36/barrel (higher by $1.37 or 1.8%). Earlier during the day, prices started the day in the red.

Bullion metal prices ended higher on Thursday, 29 July 2010 at Comex. Gold for August delivery ended at $1,168.4 an ounce, higher by $8 (0.7%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange. September Comex silver futures ended higher by 18 cents (1%) at $17.62 an ounce.

In volume terms, advancers edged past decliners by an 8-7 ratio on the New York Stock Exchange, where nearly 1.2 billion shares traded.

Indian ADRs ended mixed on Thursday. Rediff.com and VNSL were the main losers shedding 7.3% and 5.2% respectively. Patni Computers and ICICI Bank were the main gainers soaring 2.8% and 1.4% respectively.

Tomorrow, the economic data expected for the day is the advance GDP reading for the latest quarter. Other than that, earning reports will continue to pour in.