Wall Street continues to take bad news in stride as stocks closed with just minor losses Wednesday in the face of the worst report on durable goods orders since January, a $4 plunge for crude oil and a weak Treasury auction.

Today's Markets

The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 26 points, or 0.29%, to 9070.72, the Standard & Poor's 500 fell 4.47 points, or 0.46%, to 975.15 and the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 7.75 points, or 0.39%, to 1967.76. The consumer-friendly FOX 50 lost 1.06 points, or 0.15%, to 716.92.

While the losses were hardly steep, Wednesday’s slide was one of the worst days for the Dow in more than three weeks, underscoring the strength of what could be Wall Street's best July in two decades. 

Wednesday's selling began after the government said orders of big-ticket items like computers unexpected plunged in June and continued as crude oil suffered its worst day since April and the Treasury Department’s bond auction ran into trouble. But for the third-straight day, Wall Street mounted a late-day comeback effort that lifted stocks well off their worst levels of the session. 

“The market has probably had a hundred reasons to have a triple-digit [selloff] but it doesn’t seem like the market wants to go down,” said Scott Martin, managing director at Astor Asset Management.

While the markets haven't sold off yet this week, they also have been unable to add onto what was the best two-week surge since 2000, prompting some to say the bulls are running out of steam. In fact, the Dow has now ended in the red for two-straight days, its worst stretch since June 24. 

“This market looks a little bit tired to me. We’re in a very tenuous place. Although we’ve had a great-looking rally here, I think it’s still been a little bit light on volume,” NYSE trader Doreen Mogavero told FOX Business. "My fear is that people are going to realize they’ve come a very long way in a very short time and try to realize some of those gains. It may be difficult if everyone starts doing that at the same time."

Still, the Dow is on pace for its strongest July since 1989, when it climbed 9.04%. The index was led on Wednesday by telecom giants AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ). On the downside, Caterpillar (CAT) and Alcoa (AA) tumbled 2% a piece. 

Some traders took the mini selloff in stride, especially given the surge earlier this month. 

“The market pausing at this moment is actually very healthy for this upward trend. I’m actually surprised we didn’t give back more,” NYSE trader Jason Weisberg of Seaport Securities told FOX Business. “There is so much dismay and depression built into the stocks at this point. We got over exuberant on the upside at the 14000 level and we probably overdid it to the downside as well."

For the second day in a row, Wall Street received an ominous report on the state of the still-weak U.S. economy. The Commerce Department said durable goods orders declined by 2.5% in June, the steepest decline since February. Economists expected a more modest decline of 0.5% following May's 1.3% increase. 

Stocks briefly sold off before recovering after the government released the results of the sale of $39 billion of five-year notes, which saw weak demand and a high yield. With the backdrop of this week's record $115 billion of bond auctions, the results could have reignited fears on Wall Street about higher interest rates and the government's ability to finance its growing debt. 

The biggest drag on the markets was the energy sector, which tumbled more than 2% as crude oil plummeted almost $4 on a bearish inventory report. Energy stocks like Peabody Energy (BTU) and National Oilwell Varco (NOV) slid even further. 

The plunge began after the government said oil stockpiles unexpectedly surged by 5.2 million barrels last week. Ending in the red for the second-straight day, crude settled at $62.94 a barrel, down $4.29, or 6.4%.

Meanwhile, earnings season continues to march on as Sprint Nextel (S), media conglomerate Time Warner (TWX), ratings company Moody’s (MCO) and health insurer Wellpoint (WLP) released mixed quarterly results Wednesday. 

Corporate Movers

Microsoft (MSFT) and Yahoo! (YHOO) took aim at Google (GOOG) by unveiling a 10-year search deal that will integrate Microsoft's new Bing search engine with Yahoo's popular web presence. The agreement will add $500 million to Yahoo's bottom line and save the company $200 million but the tech giant's shares tumbled more than 12%.

Merck (MRK) is nearing a deal to sell half of its animal health venture to French drug maker Sanofi Aventis (SNY) for $3 billion to $5 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported.

American Express (AXP) said it has repurchased the Treasury warrants issued under the TARP program for $340 million, making it the third bank-holding company to completely repay the American taxpayer. AmEx said the government made a 26% annualized return on its investment.

ConocoPhillips (COP) suffered a 76% plunge in net income amid tumbling crude oil prices but the energy giant’s EPS beat the Street. Conoco’s revenue slid by a worse-than-expected 50% to $35.4 billion.

WellPoint (WLP) disclosed a 7.6% slide in net income but the health insurer's adjusted-profit of $1.50 per share was ahead of analysts' views. However, WellPoint said its revenue fell by a worse-than-expected 1.4% to $15.27 billion, trimmed its 2009 revenue guidance and declined to upgrade its earnings outlook despite the second-quarter beat.

Sprint Nextel (S) revealed a deeper-than-expected adjusted-loss of 4 cents per share on an in-line revenue decline of 10% to $8.1 billion. The company lost 991,000 postpaid customers during the quarter, down from a loss of 1.25 million customers in the first quarter.

IAC/InterActive (IACI) reversed last year’s second-quarter loss but the Internet media company’s adjusted-profit of 2 cents per share missed the Street’s view. The parent of sites such as Match.com and Citysearch said its revenue slid 4% to $340 million, exceeding the Street’s view.

Time Warner (TWX) disclosed a 34% drop in net income as the parent of CNN and AOL felt the effects of spinning off its cable unit. However, Time Warner’s adjusted-profit of 45 cents per share easily topped estimates even as its revenue slid by a worse-than-expected 9% to $6.81 billion.

Time Warner Cable (TWC), which was recently spun off from Time Warner, beat the Street with a quarterly profit of 89 cents per share and a 4% jump in revenue to $4.47 billion.

WellCare (WCG) surged nearly 25% a day after the health insurer blew away Wall Street’s expectations with a quarterly profit of 88 cents per share. Analysts had been expecting just 41 cents per share.

Moody’s (MCO) suffered a 19% drop in net income during the second quarter but the company’s adjusted EPS of 43 cents beat the Street. The ratings company also upgraded its full-year earnings guidance and said its quarterly revenue fell by less than expected.

ViroPharma (VPHM) soared more than 13% after the drug maker issued upbeat revenue guidance and released quarterly results that easily beat the Street. Lifted by a 25% surge in revenue, the company posted a quarterly profit of 20 cents per share, well above the 11 cents analysts had expected.

Data Dump

The markets had little reaction to the Federal Reserve's Beige Book, which is an anecdotal commentary about the current economic conditions around the country. The report indicated most areas of the country are still hurting from a weak economy but there that there are signs the recession is easing.

Global Markets

After London's FTSE 100 ended its 11-day win streak on Wednesday, the index gained 0.41% to 4547.53. France's' CAC 40 advanced 1.04% to 3365.62 and Germany's DAX rallied 1.85% to 5270.32. 

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.26% to 10113.24 but Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 2.37% to 20135.50 and China's Shanghai Composite plummeted 5% to 3266.43.