: On The Fly: Closing Wrap Stocks on Wall Street were mixed, with the Dow suffering the day's biggest slide and the Nasdaq eking out a slight gain. The averages opened lower despite economic data from the U.S. and China that came in better than expected and were unable to gain meaningful upside momentum.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., the Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing index increased to 56, exceeding forecasts for it to rise to 53.1 from a prior 52.2 reading. In Asia, China's official non-manufacturing PMI rose to 54.1 from a prior month reading of 53.9, while HSBC's services PMI held steady at 51.3. Japan's business activity index for the services sector fell in July to 50.6, but remained above the 50 level that indicates expansion. In Europe, the final Eurozone composite output index published by Markit climbed to 50.5 in July, up from 48.7 in the prior month. Also, Eurozone retail sales fell 0.5% in June, which was slightly less than the 0.7% drop that economists had expected. COMPANY NEWS: Apple (AAPL) gained $6.91, or 1.49%, to $469.45 after the White House intervened Saturday to veto an International Trade Commission decision to ban the import of older iPhones and iPads. The ITC had said earlier that some of the models infringed on a Samsung (SSNLF) patent.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the notable gainers was Enzo Biochem (ENZ), up 31c, or 13.96%, to $2.53 after a federal court upheld a $48.6M award due to the company. Also higher was Cowen Group (COWN), up 37c, or 11.53%, to $3.58 after Keefe Bruyette upgraded the company's to Outperform from Market Perform after its second quarter results, reported Friday morning. Among the noteworthy losers was GSE Holding (GSE), down $2.16, or 39.27%, to $3.34 after it warned that the company continued to experience a difficult and slow European market as well as softer demand in other areas in the second quarter, which should lead its financial results for the period to be "substantially below" the prior year. Also lower was E.W. Scripps (SSP), down $1.82, or 10.9%, to $14.87 after its second quarter results came in below expectations.
INDEXES: The Dow was down 46.23, or 0.3%, to 15,612.13; the Nasdaq was up 3.36, or 0.09%, to 3,692.95; and the S&P 500 was down 2.53, or 0.15%, to 1,707.14. :theflyonthewall
