Stocks Pare Losses Ahead of Fed Minutes

U.S. Market    
Stocks pared early losses this afternoon ahead of the release of the minutes of the Fed’s last meeting.

The trade deficit rose by 10% in May as demand for consumer products lead to a 1.6% increase in imports and exports slipped 0.2%.

The ISM Services Index rose to 56.5 in June from 52.9 in May well above the 53.6 reading expected by economists.

At midday the Dow was up 0.2%, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% while the Nasdaq was 0.6% higher.

Stocks on the Move
Shares of  Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) were off 2.4% this morning after the company reported mixed quarterly results. Pharmacy sales were up 6% in the quarter, but non-pharmacy sales were only up 0.1%. Overall, the firm earned $1.01 a share down from $1.18 a share in the year-ago quarter.

Foreign Markets
European shares were lower. The FTSE 100, Paris CAC and Germany’s DAX were off 1.3%, 1.9% and 1.7% respectively.

Asian markets were mixed. The Shanghai Composite rose 0.4%, the Nikkei 225 dropped 1.9% while the Hang Seng was off 1.2%.