It hurts, you know

The Core Personal Consumption Expenditures Index — the Federal Reserve's means of gauging inflation — rose 0.3 percent, compared to the 0.2 percent rise expected by economists. The news put Wall Street at a sluggish start today, wrote the Financial Times.

Sharp rises in prices in June also cut into consumer spending power, suggesting the government's tax rebate stimulus plan was less stimulating than expected.

Personal incomes rose at the slowest rate in over a year: a 0.1 percent increase after a 1.8 percent jump in May.

Earnings fell 86 percent on average in the financial sector and 56 percent in the consumer discretionary sector. Meanwhile, energy and technology companies enjoyed an 18 and 16 percent rise, respectively.

HSBC, one of the largest banks in the world, lost $2.9 billion in North America, compared with its year-earlier profit of $2.4 billion. In turn, Bank of America fell 1.4 percent; Wells Fargo 0.8 percent; and Citigroup 0.6 percent.

Health insurer Humana, the largest company to report on Monday, suffered a 3.2 percent fall in profits from $209.9 million, nonetheless beating analyst estimates. Shares went up 7.5 percent.

And of the 85 percent of companies in the S&P 500 that have reported Q2 earnings, profits dropped an average of 20 percent. (66 percent of companies nonetheless beat expectations; 11 percent hit them, and 23 percent fell below.)