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Stocks began the day little changed and remained that way for most of the session. The Dow was under slight pressure all day and drifted through some modest selloffs but for the most part it weathered the storm. There was a little from a macro standpoint that moved investors off the sidelines and investors appeared content to sit on the sidelines and await the next round of earnings reports after the close. Oil prices opened higher and then fell into negative territory despite yesterday's larger than expected draw of supply and today's less than expected build in natural gas inventory. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., initial jobless claims dropped 15,000 to 233,000 in the week ended July 15. The Philly Fed manufacturing index slid 8.1 points to 19.5 in July, which was weaker than expected. The leading economic index rose 0.6% to 127.8 in June. In Europe, the ECB decided that the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged. Additionally, the central bank confirmed that its net asset purchases, at the current monthly pace of EUR 60B, are intended to run until the end of December 2017, or beyond, if necessary. COMPANY NEWS: Shares of Home Depot (HD), Lowe's (LOW) and Best Buy (BBY), as well as appliance maker Whirlpool (WHR), all slid after Sears (SHLD) announced a new pact to sell appliances via Amazon (AMZN) and integrate with Amazon's Alexa service. However, several Wall Street analysts have questioned whether the selloffs in the retailers is actually a buying opportunity. Meanwhile, Sears shares jumped 10.6% following news of the distribution and Alexa integration pact... Nike (NKE) shares gained 2.3% after Morgan Stanley analyst Jay Sole upgraded the stock to Overweight, recommending investors buy shares before "the window closes" as earnings and sales growth rates are "likely troughing"... Shares of Exxon Mobil (XOM) were in focus after the company said it launched a legal challenge to a finding by the Treasury Department's OFAC that it violated U.S. sanctions against Russia in 2014 when it allowed authoritative and specific guidance from the Obama administration that OFAC retroactively changed a year later. The announcement came in response to reports that the Treasury Department fined Exxon Mobil $2M over the finding. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the notable gainers was Sarepta (SRPT), which advanced 20.1% after it reported Q2 Exondys revenues that significantly beat Street expectations and again raised guidance for 2017. Also higher after reporting earnings were Abbott (ABT) and Kinder Morgan (KMI), which gained 2.9% and 4.5%, respectively. In addition, shares of Scripps (SNI) rose 2.8% after Bloomberg reported that both Discovery Communications (DISCA) and Viacom (VIA) are in talks to acquire the company and that a deal could be reached this month. Among the noteworthy losers was Fairmount Santrol (FMSA), which fell 13.2% after being downgraded to Neutral at Credit Suisse and to Sell at Goldman Sachs. Also lower after reporting earnings were Qualcomm (QCOM) and American Express (AXP), which slipped 5% and 0.7%, respectively. INDEXES: The Dow fell 28.97, or 0.13%, to 21,611.78, the Nasdaq gained 4.96, or 0.08%, to 6,390.00, and the S&P 500 declined 0.38, or 0.02%, to 2,473.45.