* Drop of $5 in oil's price hurts energy companies but
eases inflation concerns
* Bernanke says Fed may extend emergency lending
* Housing sales data shows sharp drop in May
(Updates to early afternoon)
By Deborah Jian Lee
NEW YORK, July 8 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little
changed in a seesaw session on Tuesday as a pullback in oil
prices calmed inflation concerns and rekindled optimism about
corporate profits but sent energy shares lower.
A drop of more than 4 percent in U.S. crude <CLc1> made
energy companies the top drags on the S&P and the Dow.
Exxon Mobil Corp <XOM.N> slid 1.8 percent to $85.42,
Chevron Corp <CVX.N> also fell 1.8 percent to $95.05, and oil
services company Schlumberger <SLB.N> declined 4.5 percent to
$95.06.
General Electric <GE.N> contributed the greatest upward
momentum to the S&P 500, its shares gaining more than 2 percent
just days before the economic bellwether releases its
second-quarter earnings.
Large pharmaceutical companies in the S&P 500 <.SPX> also
advanced, with Pfizer <PFE.N> shares rising more than 3
percent. Shares of retail giant Wal-Mart <WMT.N> gained around
2 percent. The Nasdaq edged up with help from Apple <AAPL.O>
and Google <GOOG.O>.
The drop in oil and other commodity prices provided a floor
for the market after Monday's losses, Carl Birkelbach, head of
Birkelbach Management in Chicago, said.
"The fact that some of these natural materials could be
coming down now could be very beneficial to the economy because
it will mean profit margins will go up, and the Fed won't have
to increase interest rates," said Birkelbach.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> rose 24.67 points,
or 0.22 percent, to 11,256.63. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index
<.SPX> gained 1.91 points, or 0.15 percent, to 1,254.22. The
Nasdaq Composite Index <> added 10.04 points, or 0.45
percent, to 2,253.36.
Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc <AA.N>, which is due to post
its quarterly results after the closing bell, was down 4.9
percent at $31.74 as investors feared higher input costs would
probably hurt profit margins.
Shares of General Electric rose 2.6 percent to $27.79.
Wal-Mart added 2.4 percent to $58.27.
Pfizer advanced 3.74 percent to $18.04, Abbott Laboratories
<ABT.N> rose 4.1 percent to $56.39 and Eli Lilly <LLY.N>
climbed 4.6 percent to $48.28.
Apple gained 0.4 percent to $175.81, Google rose 0.4
percent to $546.28 and IBM was up 1.46 percent to $123.27.
In the financial sector, shares of Merrill Lynch <MER.N>
declined almost 1.5 percent to $30.81 after a Wachovia Capital
Markets analyst forecast about $5 billion in second-quarter
write-downs at the No. 3 Wall Street investment bank. The
analyst said he expects Merrill to show a loss in the quarter
and full year. For details, see [].
(Editing by Kenneth Barry)
