While you were sleeping: Sears teams up with Amazon

Wall Street was mixed as a rally in shares of Sears following its deal with Amazon offset slides in other retailers including Home Depot, Lowe's and Best Buy.

Sears jumped 11% after the embattled retailer said it agreed to start selling its Kenmore products on Amazon.com.

"The launch of Kenmore products on Amazon.com will significantly expand the distribution and availability of the Kenmore brand in the US," Edward Lampert, chief executive officer of Sears, said in a statement.

Sears also announced the integration of its Kenmore Smart appliances with Amazon Alexa.

"The Kenmore Smart skill for Amazon Alexa enables customers to control their Kenmore Smart home appliances by simply asking Alexa, such as changing the temperature on their air conditioner without leaving the sofa," Sears said in a statement.

Dow falls 29 points
At the close of trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 28.97 points, or 0.1%, to 21,611.78. However, the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.08% to 6390.00 while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index moved less than a point to finish slightly down at 2473.45.

Earlier, the S&P 500 climbed to a record 2477.62 and the Nasdaq rose to a record high 6,398.26.

"Earnings are going to surprise to the upside and so far it's been good," Brent Schutte, chief investment strategist for Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company, told Reuters.

"I think the one thing that's changed is now we're getting revenue growth because in many cases the world is doing better," he added. "That's the big change to the economy over the past year and that's what will keep the fire burning in the future."

Dow component Home Depot fell 4.1% while Lowe's sank 5.6% and Best Buy dropped 3.9%.

Corporate earnings drove swings in individual stocks. Shares of Qualcomm fell 5% after the leading producer of smartphone chips said its profit plunged 40% in the latest quarter, while American Express dropped 0.7% after second-quarter earnings fell 33% from last year.

European shares mixed, euro up
In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index finished the session with a decline of 0.4%. Germany's DAX Index slipped 0.04%, France's CAC40 Index fell 0.3% and the UK's FTSE 100 Index rose 0.8%.

A European Central Bank policy meeting made no changes to its key interest rates and asset purchase programme but President Mario Draghi flagged the governing council would begin discussing changes in the northern autumn.

"We also were unanimous in communicating no change to the forward guidance; and also we were unanimous in setting no precise date for when to discuss changes in the future," Mr Draghi told a press conference in Frankfurt, Germany.

"In other words, we simply said that our discussions should take place in the fall, or in the autumn, since we are in Europe."

The euro strengthened.

"A fairly dovish Mario Draghi failed to keep the euro bulls fully contained," Neil Wilson, a market analyst at ETX Capital, wrote in a note, according to Bloomberg.

"What he did let slip is that the Governing Council is likely to discuss tapering in the autumn."

Unilever lifts outlook
Meanwhile, Unilever shares climbed after the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company upgraded its outlook for full-year profitability.

The company now expects an improvement in underlying operating margin this year of at least 100 basis points and strong cash flow, chief executive officer Paul Polman said in a statement. That's up from an April forecast for an increase of at least 80 basis points.

"Our first half results show continued growth well ahead of our markets and a substantial step-up in profitability despite the persisting volatile global trading environment," Mr Polman said.

"The transformation of Unilever into a more resilient, more competitive and more profitable business is accelerating."

Shares of Unilever, which earlier this share rebuffed a takeover bid by Kraft Heinz, closed 1.7% higher in London.

"Unilever know they cannot relax and investors expect them to raise their game," Steve Clayton, fund manager at Hargreaves Lansdown Select, whose funds are 5% invested in Unilever, told Reuters.

(BusinessDesk)