Midday Report: Rio Tinto Pulls Materials Lower; Dow Hovers Around 22,000 Milestone

An early-morning rally proved short-lived as a sharp decline in materials stocks overshadowed a positive earnings report from Apple Inc. (AAPL) - Get Report . The Dow reached its never-before-seen 20,000 level earlier. Crude oil prices were in flux even after a decline in domestic inventories. The EIA reported a drop in crude supplies of 1.5 million barrels in the past week. Distillate and gasoline stockpiles also declined. Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) - Get Report weighed on the materials sector following a disappointing first half of the year. The mining company earned underlying profit of $3.94 billion over the first half of the year, lower than consensus. Time Warner (TWX) reported a better-than-expected second quarter thanks to the box-office success of Wonder Woman. The media company expects its merger to AT&T (T) - Get Report to be completed by year's end.