Microsoft, Yahoo unite against Google search
Microsoft shares rose slightly and Yahoo’s shares fell more than 7 percent in pre-market trading after the companies announced their long courtship is over, reaching a 10 year search deal that will see Microsoft’s Bing Internet search engine powering Yahoo’s search ads. The agreement sets up a united front to attempt to rival Google’s web search dominance. Regulatory approval must be gained as legal challenges may arise.

CFTC 2nd day hearings on limits for energy markets
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission will hold the second of three days of hearings to Discuss Energy Position Limits and Hedge Exemptions from 9:00 a.m. EDT to 1:00 p.m. EDT in Washington D.C.

U.S. inventories weekly report
The U.S. Energy Department will release its weekly petroleum supply report at 10:30 a.m. EST. Analysts expect gasoline stockpiles fell 1.5 million barrels and distillate fuel supplies including heating oil and diesel climbed 1 million barrels in the week ended July 24, according to a Bloomberg survey.

Manufacturing orders up
New orders for manufactured durable goods in June rose 2.5 percent to $158.6 billion, a U.S. government report said today, building on increases in the previous two months. Excluding transportation, new orders were up 1.1percent. Excluding defense, orders grew 0.7 percent.

ConocoPhillips earnings

ConocoPhillips today reported that net income was $1.298 million in the second quarter, down from $5,439 million, or $3.50 per share