Stocks End Lower on Earnings

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Stocks ended lower on Monday as oil prices increased to $59 a barrel and traders weighed lukewarm earnings from Xerox Corp. against a surge in housing prices.


The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 54.70, or 0.5 percent, to 10,596.48. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped 4.65, or 0.4 percent, to 1,229.03. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 13, or 0.6 percent, to 2,166.74, moving the index back into negative territory for the year.


After seesawing much of the day, crude futures for September delivery settled at $59 a barrel, up 35 cents on NYMEX.


Shares of Xerox fell 6.1 percent to $13.20 after Wall Street was unimpressed with its rather lackluster quarterly results. The company reported a higher profit, but still fell short of analysts’ expectations.


Sales of existing homes set a new record in June, with home prices shooting up at the fastest pace in nearly 25 years. The median price of an existing home increased to a record of $219,000 last month, a gain of 14.7 percent from the median a year ago.


Among local companies, shares of Diagnostic Products Corp. rose 16.8 percent to $55.95 after the L.A.-based maker of test kits to detect diseases said it earned 69 cents a share in the second quarter, beating the 66-cent average analysts’ estimate. Revenues rose 14 percent to $125.5 million.


1st Century Bank N.A. gained 15.5 percent to $9.25 after the Century-City-based bank said it closed on its secondary public offering of common stock, at an offering price of $8 per share.


And Image Entertainment Inc. edged up 2.4 percent to $3 after the Chatsworth-based home entertainment company announced that it entered into a co-production and distribution agreement with production company Graymark Productions to make low budget films.


On the down side, shares of Hanmi Financial Corp. fell 3.9 percent to $18.50 after the L.A.-based holding company for Hanmi Bank’s stock rating was downgraded to “sell” from “hold” by analyst Scott Carmel at Moors & Cabot. The 12-month price target was set at $16.50 per share.

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