DJI- NEW YORK, July 25 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 fell for a fourth day and the Nasdaq dropped on Wednesday after a rare earnings stumble from Apple, while strong results from Boeing and Caterpillar lifted the Dow.
Apple Inc AAPL.O, the most valuable U.S. company by market capitalization, reported sales late on Tuesday that fell short of Wall Street's expectations as the European economy sagged and consumers held off buying iPhones before a new version expected in the autumn.
Shares fell 4.3 percent to $574.97. Without Apple's losses, the S&P would have ended higher.
The price-weighted Dow industrials managed gains thanks to Caterpillar CAT.N and Boeing BA.N. Caterpillar rose 1.4 percent to $82.60 after its quarterly profit easily beat Wall Street's expectations.
The world's largest maker of construction machines also raised its 2012 forecast.
“Expectations have been very low and this is a huge positive for the market,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago.
Hope that the Federal Reserve will act soon to provide more stimulus to the economy also supported stocks. A report in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday said Fed officials may be moving closer to taking more steps to aid the flagging economy. (nL2E8IO9QA)
Because of those expectations "bank stocks are performing relatively well," said Thomas Villalta, portfolio manager for Jones Villalta Asset Management in Austin, Texas. The KBW bank index .BKX was up 0.5 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 58.73 points, or 0.47 percent, at 12,676.05. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX was down 0.42 point, or 0.03 percent, at 1,337.89. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC was down 8.75 points, or 0.31 percent, at 2,854.24.
NYMEX- NEW YORK, July 25 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures rose for a second straight session on Wednesday, shrugging off higher inventories and supported by hopes that the Federal Reserve will provide more economic stimulus coupled with concerns about Middle East turmoil.
U.S. crude oil stocks rose more than expected last week while gasoline and distillate inventories also increased, weekly data from the Energy Information Administration showed.
CBOT SOYBEAN- Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures rose on concerns about shrinking crop
size as the U.S. drought remains intact.
* Rain this week and for the next 10 days will boost crop prospects in the northern and eastern U.S. Midwest, but crops in the rest of the growing region will struggle against extreme heat and drought, an agricultural meteorologist said.
• "There is improvement in the north and east and we expect more showers today and tomorrow in the west central to northwest," said Don Keeney, meteorologist for MDA EarthSat Weather.
• Malaysian crude palm oil rebounded on Wednesday on bargain hunting after prices hit a five-week low earlier in the session, although gains were modest as investors remained worried that the euro zone debt crisis could hurt demand.
• August was above all key moving averages. The nine-day RSI stood at 63.
FCPO- SINGAPORE, July 25 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil rebounded on Wednesday on bargain hunting after prices hit a five-week low earlier in the session, although gains were modest as investors remained worried that the euro zone debt crisis could hurt demand.
The euro zone's private sector shrank for a sixth month in July as manufacturing output nosedived, notably in Germany and France, adding to the likelihood that the bloc will slump back into recession, business surveys showed on Tuesday.
Market players also priced in weaker Malaysian exports for the July 1-25 period after cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services reported a 14 percent monthly drop.
"The market recovered today as it was a little bit oversold. Exports were down 14 percent but that has already been factored in considering the market dropped close to 200 ringgit in the last few days," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia.
The benchmark October palm oil futures FCPOc3 on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange edged up 0.9 percent to close at 2,951 ringgit ($930) per tonne. Prices earlier dropped to 2,898 ringgit, the lowest since June 18.
Traded volume stood at 45,813 lots of 25 tonnes each, higher than the usual 25,000 lots.
REGIONAL EQUITY- BANGKOK, July 25 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock indexes posted small gains on Wednesday, with the newly listed IHH Healthcare Bhd IHHH.KL leading Malaysia higher.
Malaysia's main index .KLSE edged up 0.15 percent, regaining some lost ground from a drop of 0.8 percent in the past four sessions, with IHH, Asia's largest hospital operator, jumping as much as 14 percent in its trading debut in Kuala Lumpur.
