U.S. MARKET AVERAGES

The semiconductor sector is sitting above its intraday low with a loss of less than 1%. The disk drive space is also weak. The airline sector rallied sharply and has added to its gains recently and is now up about 1.2%. The retail sector is also performing well making a gain of just under 1%.

Citigroup was down $1.06 to $45.36 after reporting 2Q earnings of 97 cents per share Monday morning, up versus 22 cents a year ago, but below forecasts for a profit of $1.01 per share. The company blamed the low results on the tough capital markets environment

Bank of America was down $0.69 to $45.30 after posting 2Q earnings of $1.08 per share, up versus the year earlier quarter and 7 cents more than expected on a growth in credit card fees and retail deposits.

3M dropped $0.30 to $75.15 after reporting higher second-quarter earnings and revenue in line with forecasts. The company also boosted the low end of its fiscal 2005 earnings outlook

General Motors was up $0.80 to $37.54 ahead of its quarterly earnings, due Wednesday.

Geron advanced up $1.79 to $10.39 after announcing it has made a licensing deal with Merck to develop a cancer vaccine.

Maytag gained $1.67 to $17.12 after Whirlpool offered to buy it for $1.37 billion in cash and stock, topping an earlier offer from an investment group.

Shares of International Business Machines Corp. (IBM: chart) fell 0.4% as the company prepares to post its 2Q earnings after the Monday close.

ECONOMIC NEWS

No major U.S. economic data are due out today.

Housing Starts data, which is a key measure of initial construction of residential units both single and multi-family, for the month of June is due to be released Tuesday. Economists expect Housing Starts for the month of June to be 2.03 million. Housing Starts data for May came in at annual unit rate of 2.009 million, 0.2% higher than the 2.005 million units April, while economists had forecasted an annual unit pace of 2.040 million. Housing Starts for multi-unit homes declined 19.3%, while that of single-family homes advanced 4.7%.

On Wednesday, the Energy Information Department is expected to release the weekly Petroleum inventory data for the week ended July 15th.

Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan is to deliver the semi-annual Monetary Policy report to House Financial Services Committee in Washington on Thursday.

The customary weekly Jobless Claims data for the week ended July 16th is scheduled to be released on Thursday. Economists expect the claims for unemployment benefits for the first time to decline 9,000 to 327,000 for the week.

Thursday, the Philadelphia Fed index, a read on manufacturing in the northeast region, is expected to have risen to 9.0 from a read of -2.2 in May. Any read over zero signifies expansion in the sector.

INTERNATIONAL MARKET NEWS

European markets were unsteady and finished mostly down as Philips Electronics released a cautious outlook, although dealings in the telecom sector and a positive broker comment on steel stocks provided some support. Stocks were also pressured by the U.S. stocks which opened lower as Citigroup posted a quarterly net loss. Averages in Germany added 0.1%, in France lost 0.2%, and in the U.K. declined 0.3%. The euro rose 0.1% to $1.2057, while the pound slipped 0.1% to $1.7489.

Asian-Pacific markets ended mixed with Tokyo closed for a national holiday and Taiwan’s stock exchange closed because of a typhoon. South Korea’s Kospi, one of the gainers, finished higher 0.3% boosted by gains in the U.S. markets Friday and buying from retail investors. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.4%, reaching a 52-month high, helped by the strong property sector. China’s Shanghai Composite declined 1.4% as its biggest offshore oil company Cnooc expanded its losses.

European shares slightly advanced as a cautious outlook by Philips Electronics was offset by positive close of U.S. markets Friday and gains in the telecommunications sector. The German DAX 30 rose 0.3%, the French CAC 40 gained 0.2%, and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 added 0.3%. The euro rose against the dollar to $1.2051, while the pound fell to $1.7461.

ENERGY, METALS AND CURRENCIES MARKETS

Crude-oil futures were pulled downward by an OPEC forecast of a lessened new global demand that outweighed the fears of Hurricane Emily causing damage to oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico. Light sweet crude for August delivery slid 36 cents to $57.73 a barrel on the NYME, heating oil dropped 2 cents to $1.6430 a gallon, and London Brent futures fell 35 cents to $57.26. Analysts said that traders could still bet on some damage from the storm.