There are no Dow stocks at 52 week highs. There are no Dow stock 52 week lows.

The Market

Thursday the Dow closed down -225.47 (-1.47%) at 15,112.19.

Year-to-date DJIA is up +15.32%..

This morning the Dow was indicated to open up +28 points.

The Dow Jones industrial average posted its biggest drop in almost two months yesterday, its second-straight double-digit point decline.

Housing starts on new U.S. homes rose 5.9% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 896,000 according to the U.S. Department of Commerce . Economists had expected overall housing starts in July to hit an annual rate of 915,000, compared with an originally estimated June starts rate of 836,000. On Friday the government revised June’s starts rate to 846,000. In July, starts for buildings with at least five units rose 25.5%, while starts for single-family homes declined 2.2%. Overall starts in July were up 20.9% from the same period in the prior year, pointing to ongoing recovery, though there’s concern about the impact of rising mortgage rates on the housing market. The government also reported Friday that building permits, a sign of future demand, rose 2.7% in July to an annual rate of 943,000. Permits for buildings with at least five units increased 13.5%. Meanwhile, permits for single-family homes decreased 1.9%.

Alcoa (AA) was downgraded to “Underperform” from “Neutral” at BofA/Merrill.

European markets were mostly lower and Asian markets ended lower.

The national average price of gasoline is up two-tenths of a cent at $3.541 per gallon.

Earnings Reports

Home Depot reports earnings on 8/20/2013 before the market open.

Hewlett-Packard reports earnings on 8/21/2013 after the market close.

Earnings reports from Thursday include:

Wal-Mart (WMT) reported second quarter EPS of $1.25, in line, on revenue of $116.9 billion vs. $119.7 billion expected. The company also cut its full year EPS outlook.

Dell (DELL) reported second quarter EPS of $0.25 vs. $0.24 expected on revenue of $14.5 billion vs. $14.18 billion expected.

Kohl’s (KSS) reported second quarter EPS of $1.04 vs. $1.05 expected on revenue of $4.29 billion vs. $4.3 billion expected.

Nordstrom (JWN) reported second quarter EPS of $0.93 vs. $0.88 expected on revenue of $3.2 billion vs. $3.29 billion expected. However, the company cut its outlook for the full year.

Perigo (PRGO) reported fourth quarter EPS of $1.57 vs. $1.56 expected on revenue of $1.00 billion vs. $831.77 million expected.

Other stocks expected to report earnings today include:

There are no earnings reports of note expected today

Merck & Co Inc. (MRK).

Merck & Co Inc. (MRK) is up +17.17% year-to-date.

Financial Calendar

0830 ET Q2 non-farm productivity expected +0.6%, Q1 +0.5%. Q2 unit labor costs expected +1.2%, Q1 -4.3%.

0830 ET July housing starts expected +7.7% to 900,000, Jun -9.9% to 836,000. July building permits expected +2.9% to 945,000, Jun -6.8% to 918,000.

0955 ET Preliminary U.S. Aug University of Michigan consumer confidence expected +0.1 to 85.2, July +1.0 to 85.1.