Stock Market Today

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 3.70 points, or 0.04%, to 10366.72, the Standard & Poor’s 500 sank 0.17 points, or 0.02%, to 1095.17 and the Nasdaq Composite picked up 7.81 points, or 0.35%, to 2249.84. The FOX 50 closed fell 0.05 points, or 0.01%, to 798.24.

Even though Wall Street closed well off its session highs and managed to only barely to extend the Dow’s big winning streak, traders didn’t seem too concerned about the performance.

“We’re very encouraged by the market. Obviously the market has gone into a bull stage,” NYSE trader Maier Tarlow of Raven Securities told FOX Business. “Of course the market is going to come in for breathing space. The Fed minutes were bearish today… but for the market to shake it off and consolidate here, we find it to be very bullish.”

Wall Street had been solidly higher earlier in the day in the wake of Intel’s (INTC: 21.36, 0.35, 1.67%) big earnings beat and a rallying euro. However, stocks came under pressure after the Federal Reserve renewed some economic jitters by lowering its economic forecast.

The flat close comes after the Dow soared nearly 150 points on Tuesday to cap off its strongest six-day performance in almost a year. Boosted by optimism surrounding earnings season, the benchmark index surged almost 700 points over that span.

“I was expecting a little bit of a pause,” said Frank Davis, director of sales and trading at LEK Securities. “We moved to the upper side of this range and you would expect us to pause and teeter until we have some kind of break through.”

The Dow’s seven-day rally marks its longest winning streak since March 18. Half of the blue chip stocks closed higher, led by tech giants Intel (INTC: 21.36, 0.35, 1.67%) and Cisco Systems (CSCO: 23.74, 0.65, 2.82%). The index’s worst performers were American Express (AXP: 43.7, -0.45, -1.02%) and Home Depot (HD: 28.29, -0.34, -1.19%).

Boosted by Intel’s results, the Nasdaq Composite outperformed the broader markets and closed in the green for the seventh day in a row. Tech stocks like SanDisk (SNDK: 45.13, -0.58, -1.27%) and Nvidia (NVDA: 11.03, 0.11, 1.01%) posted steady gains.

Earnings season rolled on as tech bellwether Intel reported its strongest quarterly profit in a decade and EPS of 51 cents. Analysts had expected EPS of just 43 cents. Sales soared 34% to $10.8 billion, well above the Street’s view of $10.24 billion. Intel also forecasted third-quarter revenue of $11.2 billion to $12 billion, which would easily beat expectations for $10.9 billion.

Intel’s shares rallied around the results, soaring nearly 6% at one point before closing modestly higher. The results also lifted other tech stocks like Oracle (ORCL: 23.94, 0.2, 0.84%) and Dell (DELL: 13.52, 0.33, 2.5%).

U.S. stocks hit session lows after the Federal Reserve released minutes from its June policy meeting that showed the central bank lowered its economic growth and job creation projections and some policy makers raised the possibility of further monetary stimulus. The Fed now sees 2010 U.S. GDP growing at 3% to 3.5%, compared with 3.2% to 3.7% earlier. It also forecasted unemployment would range between 9.2% and 9.5% this year, compared with 9.1% and 9.5% earlier.

The Fed is clearly concerned about high unemployment, the very weak housing market and debt woes in Europe. Policy makers weighed “whether further policy stimulus might be appropriate if the outlook were to worsen appreciably,” the minutes showed.

Wall Street managed to mostly shrug off the Commerce Department report saying retail sales slid by 0.5% in June, compared with expectations for a drop of just 0.2%. Excluding autos, sales were off just 0.1%. Retailers like Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY: 37.29, -1.04, -2.71%) and Macy’s (M: 18.37, -0.1, -0.54%) closed lower on the data.

The markets weren’t helped by new report showing business inventories rose by just 0.1% in May, missing expectations for a rise of 0.3% and triggering more worries about consumer spending. Sales declined by 0.9%, the largest decline since March 2009.

Commodities lost ground on the Fed forecast. Crude oil fell 11 cents a barrel, or 0.14%, to $77.04. Copper dropped 0.28% a pound to $3.0010. Gold sank $6.50 a troy ounce, or 0.54%, to $1,206.80.