Wall Street set for weekly loss as traders cash in

By Rodrigo Campos

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Friday, putting the Dow and the S&P 500 on track to post their first negative week in five ahead of a busy data week and as a strong July winds down.

With three trading days left in the month, the S&P 500 is set to post its best month since January. The Nasdaq's advance makes July so far the best month in a year and a half.

"It's not uncommon for short-term traders to lock a little bit of profits, especially after everyone had a terrible June," said Paul Zemsky, head of asset allocation at ING Investment Management in New York.

June was the first negative month for U.S. stocks since October.

"Coming into the last week of a good month, it's not a crazy idea to take some profits."

Nine of the 10 major S&P 500 industry sector indexes fell and 26 of the 30 Dow components were also down. Zemsky pointed at the broad decline as an indication of profit-taking.

Among the most active names, Expedia shares plunged 24.7 percent to $48.92 a day after the online travel agency reported a quarterly profit far short of market estimates.

Starbucks shares rose 6.9 percent to $72.87 a day after the world's biggest coffee chain reported a bigger-than-expected jump in quarterly profit.

Halfway through earnings season, 67.6 percent of S&P 500 companies that have reported results have beaten analysts' expectations - in line with the 67 percent average beat in the last four quarters.

About 56 percent of the companies have beaten revenue expectations, more than the 48 percent of revenue beats in the past four earnings seasons.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> fell 95.31 points or 0.61 percent, to 15,460.30. The S&P 500 <.spx> dropped 7.11 points or 0.42 percent, to 1,683.14. The Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> slipped 5.83 points or 0.16 percent, to 3,599.36.

The S&P 500 is facing resistance at the 1,700 level.

For the week, the S&P 500 is down about 0.53 percent, its first negative week in five. But the benchmark is up 4.8 percent so far in July, its best month since January.

The Dow is down about 0.54 percent for the week. If that trend holds through the closing bell, this would also be the Dow's first negative week in five. For July, the Dow is up 3.7 percent.

The Nasdaq is up 5.8 percent in July so far, its best monthly gain in a year and half. For the week, the Nasdaq is up about 0.33 percent.

Zynga Inc shares plunged 15.7 percent to $2.95 a day after the company announced it will largely abandon plans for real-money gaming in the United States.

Amazon shares turned higher despite a forecast that disappointed on income and revenue. The stock rose 2.3 percent to $310.41, a rebound from a session low at $295.55. Earlier on Friday, Amazon's stock hit a 52-week high of $310.50. UBS raised its price target on the stock to $305 from $275.

Vivendi plans to sell the bulk of its stake in Activision Blizzard Inc to the video game maker and its management for $8.2 billion in the French conglomerate's second blockbuster deal in a week. Activision shares surged 14.2 percent to $17.35.

(Editing by Jan Paschal)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stock-futures-fall-pause-rally-mixed-earnings-130054599.html

Anne Smedinghoff jana kramer carrie underwood garth brooks george strait Peyton Siva rick warren