Stocks slip after weeklong stretch of gains amid latest earnings; AMD, Wells disappoint

Stocks fall moderately after weeklong run

NEW YORK — Investors are taking a wary view of the latest batch of corporate earnings reports following a weeklong winning streak.

Stocks are lower in early trading Wednesday following a batch of mixed corporate results. Chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. are lower after reporting disappointing results.

Strong results for the April-June quarter have propelled major stock indicators more than 8 percent in the past seven days. Analysts have been warning that some pullback was likely.

In the first few minutes of trading, the Dow is down 50 to 8,867. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is down 6 to 949, and the Nasdaq composite index is down 8 to 1,909.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

NEW YORK (AP) — Investors are taking a wary view of the latest batch of corporate earnings reports following a weeklong winning streak.

Despite a recent flood of better-than-expected earnings and improving outlooks, there is still evidence of pain among certain sectors, like banking and retail, that depend on the financial health of consumers.

“As the earnings season goes on it becomes more difficult because the bar goes higher and higher,” said John Canally, economist at LPL Financial in Boston.

Investors got some disappointing reports on Wednesday from Morgan Stanley and Whirpool Corp. Morgan Stanley said it lost a bigger-than-expected $1.2 billion during the second quarter as it took a charge to repay government bailout money. The investment bank was also hurt for a second straight quarter by the improving value of its own debt.

Whirpool, the world’s largest maker of major home appliances, said its second-quarter profit dropped 33 percent on weak consumer demand.

Other results, however, surpassed Wall Street’s expectations.

Wells Fargo & Co. reported solid second-quarter results, with a 47 percent rise in profit helped by its acquisition of Wachovia Corp.

Meanwhile, the huge drugmaker Pfizer Inc. and beverage company PepsiCo both reported declines in quarterly profits, but managed to beat analyst estimates.

Some pause in buying is to be expected after a rally that has driven the Dow Jones industrial average up 9.4 percent over seven sessions. The Dow is now in the black for the year, standing as its highest level since January, while the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 index is at its highest mark since November.

Ahead of the market’s open, Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 58, or 0.7 percent, to 8,828. Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 8.10, or 0.9 percent, to 945.30, while Nasdaq 100 index futures dropped 5.00, or 0.3 percent, to 1,549.

Major market indexes seesawed throughout much of Tuesday’s trading session, but managed to end the day up less than 1 percent. Investors battled worries over rising loan losses at regional banks and a mixed report from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who cautioned that the economy’s recovery will be gradual because of rising unemployment. But he assured investors that once the economy is back on track, inflation will be subdued.

Bernanke will continue his two-day address to Congress on Wednesday, speaking in front of the Senate Banking Committee.

Tech shares are likely to be in focus after Yahoo Inc. and Apple Inc. posted better-than-expected profits late Tuesday.

Yahoo’s earnings rose 8 percent — the company’s first quarterly earnings improvement since the beginning of 2008. However, sales slid 13 percent. Shares fell 63 cents to $16.12 in premarket trading.

Apple, meanwhile, surpassed Wall Street’s expectations in both profit and revenue on robust sales of laptops and iPhones. Shares shot up 4 percent, adding $6.03 to $157.54 ahead of regular trading.

Uncertainty over the fate of CIT Group Inc. is also putting a damper on the market. The troubled commercial lender said in a regulatory filing Tuesday that it might have to file for bankruptcy protection if not enough bondholders participate in a recently launched debt exchange.

The discouraging news came just a day after major bondholders agreed to provide the company with a $3 billion rescue loan after negotiations for a government-led bailout fell through.

Bond prices were little changed in early trading Wednesday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, held steady at 3.48 percent.

The dollar rose against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.

Oil prices fell 80 cents to $64.81 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 0.7 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.3 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.04 percent, Germany’s DAX index rose 0.01 percent, and France’s CAC-40 fell 0.4 percent.