A nearly two week long streak of setting new all-time records was broken today when a series of less than stellar Q2 reports, namely from the transportation and technology sectors, hit the market and brought the Dow down 77 points, not nearly enough to neutralize the recent rallies but plenty enough to erase some of the recent records, which isn't necessarily bad.  After such an extensive rally, it was time for some pullback.  Still, despite this modest retreat, forecasts have been revised upwards again.

Two weeks ago, the prediction was for a minus 5% profit picture.  For the past week it's been revised upwards on almost a daily basis and today was no exception with the new number being a minus 3.3 percent, revised from a minus 3.8 just yesterday.  Volume again was below average at 6.5 billion but that's expected from the day's bad reporting.  It could have been worse.  Just 30 minutes before close, the market was down almost 130 points.  So something very positive happened at the end, and that will likely continue on Monday.

Markets | Thu Jul 21, 2016 6:46pm EDT

Intel, transports sap Wall Street's strength

BY LEWIS KRAUSKOPF

DJ:  18,517.23  -77.80       NAS:  5,073.90  -16.03 S&P:      2,165.17  -7.85  

(Reuters)  Wall Street cooled off on Thursday as disappointing quarterly reports from tech stalwart Intel and from transportation companies stalled momentum in a U.S. corporate earnings season that has been better than feared.  The S&P 500 and Dow industrials pulled back from record highs and the Dow snapped a nine-session streak of gains.

Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) fell 11.2 percent and led other airline stocks lower after the company forecast a drop in a key profitability metric. Union Pacific (UNP.N) dropped 3.4 percent after the No. 1 U.S. railroad posted a lower quarterly net profit, hurt by slumping freight volumes.

The stocks dragged down the Dow Jones transport index .DJT, which is often seen as a barometer of the market's health and the overall economy.

"You’ve got some weakness in that important group, and the broader market might be taking some cues from that," said Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 77.8 points, or 0.42 percent, to 18,517.23, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 7.85 points, or 0.36 percent, to 2,165.17 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXICdropped 16.03 points, or 0.31 percent, to 5,073.90.

The recent rally has pushed the S&P 500 to fresh all-time records after failing to reach such highs for more than a year, putting the benchmark index up about 6 percent in 2016.

"The market is just tired," said Stephen Massocca, chief investment officer of Wedbush Equity Management in San Francisco. "It’s had a massive move in a straight line and so it is only natural to see some pullback here."

Intel (INTC.O) shares fell 4 percent. The world's largest chipmaker reported slower revenue growth at its data center business. Rival Qualcomm (QCOM.O) fared better, with shares rising 7.4 percent after it reported strong demand for its mobile chips in China.

Second-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies, which have started reporting results in earnest this week, are expected to fall 3.3 percent, less severe than the 4.5 percent decline estimated at the start of the month, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

"People were expecting a lot worse and I don’t think it’s been that bad, which is part of the reason that the market started taking off two weeks ago," said Peter Costa, president of trading firm Empire Executions.

Eight of the 10 major S&P sectors closed lower, with industrials .SPLRCI dropping the most. Healthcare .SPXHC rose 0.4 percent, helped by a 7.6-percent rise in Biogen (BIIB.O) after the biotechnology company's strong report.

After the market closed, Starbucks (SBUX.O) shares fell 4.9 percent following its results.

About 6.5 billion shares changed hands in U.S. exchanges, below the 7.5 billion daily average over the past 20 sessions.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.38-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.67-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 27 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 85 new highs and 25 new lows.