Dull day for US stocks at Wall Street ahead of key earning reports

Indian ADRs also end mostly lower too

U.S. stocks closed lower on Monday, 21 July 2014 as investors remained jittery amid escalating war in Gaza and possible tougher sanctions against Russia. They were worse in the early going as the major indices backpedaled quickly at the start of trading. The ostensible catalysts for the opening retreat were geopolitical concerns over Israel's ground assault in Gaza and the troublesome diplomatic dealings in the wake of Malaysian Air flight MH17 being shot down over eastern Ukraine last week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 48.45 points, or 0.3%, to 17,051.73. The Nasdaq Composite slipped by 7.44 points, or 0.2% at 4,424.70. The S&P 500 closed 4.6 points, or 0.2%, lower at 1,973.63.

Nine put of ten sectors ended in the red led by healthcare and consumer staples sectors. Energy sector was the sole winner.

There were no economic events for Monday and a scant amount of earnings, leaving investors to face down a day of rising global tensions.

Overall, it was a subdued start to the week for the stock market, which was also cognizant that a flood of earnings results will pour in starting on Tuesday.

Geopolitics remained on the front burner of the market place to start this week. Last week's downing of a Malaysian airliner on the Russia-Ukraine border and Israel's ground offensive against Hamas on the Gaza strip are the dominant fundamentals in the markets on Monday morning.

Gold, U.S. Treasuries and the U.S. dollar are safe-haven assets that have seen support from the heightened world tensions. U.S. economic data due for release on Monday was light and included the Chicago Fed national activity index. The data was not a markets-mover.

In terms of Corp. has taken a stake of more than $1 billion in the data-storage giant and plans to push it toward a breakup. Netflix shares rose 1.5% in late trading after the video-streaming company reported a 25% rise in earnings thanks to strong subscriber gains.

There was a low volume at the NYSE where only 530 mln shares traded hands versus a recent average of 658 mln shares.

Bullion prices ended higher on Monday, 21 July 2014 at Comex. Gold prices ended the U.S. day session modestly higher Monday as heightened geopolitical tensions keep a safe-haven bid in the market.

Gold for August delivery rose $4.50, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,313.90 an ounce. September silver tacked on 12 cents, or nearly 0.6%, to end at $21.01 an ounce.

Crude-oil futures rose on Monday, 21 July 2014 at Nymex and rose to their highest in nearly three weeks on ongoing geopolitical concerns and as Libya announced a drop in its production.

Light, sweet crude futures for delivery in August gained $1.46, or 1.4%, to settle at $104.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The August contract expires on Tuesday. The more actively traded September contract rose 91 cents to end at $102.86 a barrel.

Indian ADRs ended mostly lower on Monday. In the banking space, ICICI Bank declined 0.86% at $50.54 and HDFC Bank shed 1.47% at $47.57. In the IT space, Infosys fell 1.36% at $53.49 and Wipro added 1.08% at $12.14. In the other sectors, Tata Motors was down 0.88% at $41.64 and Dr Reddy's Laboratories was up 0.3% at $43.88.

On Tuesday, the day will be heavy in terms of economic data with the release of the CPI (consensus +0.3%) and Existing Home Sales (consensus 5.00 mln) reports. That data will be processed alongside a bevy of earnings reports that will include results from six Dow components.

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