Market Minute: Investors Wary of August; Exxon, P&G Miss on Earnings

Stocks are set to rally this morning, but history offers a warning to investors. That and more is what's in market news Thursday

The Dow industrials (^DJI) lost 21 points Wednesday, and the S&P 500 (^GPSC) was virtually flat, but the Nasdaq (^IXIC) gained nearly 10 points.

All three major averages posted solid gains for all of July. For the Dow, it was the seventh increase in eight months. So what can we expect from August? Well, since 1987, it's been the worst month of the year for the market.

In earnings news, Exxon Mobil's (XOM) quarterly earnings appear to have badly missed Wall Street expectations.

Procter & Gamble's (PG) net fell by nearly half from a year ago, but still edged past expectations.

Animated filmmaker DreamWorks Animation (DWA), biotech company Affymetrix (AFFX), and the online review company Yelp (YELP) are all set to rally on better-than-expected earnings news.

But Whole Foods Market (WFM) and Marriott International (MAR) both issue disappointing results.

Ford (F), General Motors (GM), Toyota (TM) and other carmakers report sales for last month. Industry watcher Edmunds.com forecasts a double-digit gain from a year ago.

Shares of J.C. Penney (JCP) tumbled Wednesday on a report that a leading commercial lender has stopped backing deliveries to the chain. But the stock is set to rebound Thursday after J.C. Penney said those reports are false.

The dispute between J.C. Penney and Macy's (M) over the rights to sell Martha Stewart (MSO) branded products could come to an end today. The two department stores are set to deliver closing arguments in their long-running case, and the judge could issue an immediate ruling.

The International Trade Commission is expected to rule today on Apple's (AAPL) patent-infringement case against Korean rival Samsung. The companies have filed suit and countersuit against each other, with both sides claiming some victories in court.

And Starbucks (SBUX) has enlisted Google (GOOG) to make the Internet connection at its coffee shops up to 10 times faster than it is now.

-Produced by Drew Trachtenberg.

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