The balance between a potential downgrade of US debt and strong bank results left the market without conviction. That leaves open the issue of whether the American debt cap and the flood of earnings due in the next two weeks will pull the market from its listless performance.

Among the 30 most active stocks and ETFs none was high than more than 6%. That advance was by ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP). The energy giant will spin off its refining unit early next year. As a one-time event, the shares are not likely to move again after today.

JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) was higher by 3% which stunned some traders because its earnings outperformed almost all expectations. Its second-quarter profit rose 13% to $1.27 a share. The market does not believe that the JPM success will spread to any other large money center banks. Analysts who cover these firms expect trading and investment banking revenue to be weak. Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) traded flat on strong volume at $10.21.

Technology shares were fundamentally unmoved as the market awaits Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) earnings. Recent data on slow PC sales have weighed on Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and Microsoft (NASDAQ : MSFT) both of which traded only marginally higher.

The only active company with shares trading lower was Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) which was off .2% to $19.93. There was not reason for its activity.

Even News Corp (NYSE: NWS) the shares of which have been buffeted by share buybacks, a newspaper scandal in the UK, and a cancellation of its BSkyB buyout, traded .5% to $16.51. So, even what has been the most roiled part of the market is calm

Douglas A. McIntyre

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