Stock records, inflation, Hulu vs. Netflix

For the most part, Wall Street is a bit cautious this morning with stocks (^GSPC) bouncing back from Wednesday's stumble thanks to solid earnings reports. Cautious, that is, except for the Nasdaq (^IXIC), which looks poised to add to yesterday's record setting performance.

Yahoo Finance's Aaron Task notes trading in July is looking like the rest of the year has so far -- a series of ups and downs.

"This is going to be the year with a lot of noise, in a fairly tight range," he says. "Every time it gets to the top, it falls back, and everytime it heads for the bottom, it rallies. I don't see what is going to break us out either way in a dramatic fashion."

Along with more earnings reports, investors also have some economic data to consider today. The government says consumer prices rose 0.3% in June, while they gained 0.2% when leaving out food and energy. Both were in line with estimates. And housing starts jumped a healthy 9.8% last month.

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Here are some of the stocks the Yahoo Finance team is following for you today.

Google (GOOGL) Shares hit an all-time high following its quarterly report. The company handily beat profit forecasts. And while revenue was in line, it was better than expected when subtracting certain costs. Google reports solid gains in mobile and its YouTube video service. In addition, CFO Ruth Borat confirmed the company is making a conscious effort to control spending.

General Electric (GE) The big conglomerate beat on both its top and bottom lines in the period. GE says it saw strong organic growth and what it calls "exceptional" cash generation. And it's boosting the low end of its full year earnings guidance.

Mattel (MAT) Excluding certain items, the toymaker had a surprise profit in the second quarter. But revenue fell well below analysts' forecast. And you can blame Barbie. Sales of the famous doll slumped 19%. Mattel also says it was hurt by the strong dollar.

Hertz Global Holdings (HTZ) Shares are getting a big boost after the rental car company finished restating 2 years of financial results and said cost-cutting efforts will bring a savings of $300 million this year -- $100 million more than it had anticipated. Hertz also is reaffirming its plan to buy back $1 billion in stock.

eBay (EBAY) The online auction firm will spin off its PayPal payment unit today... with eBay investors receiving one PayPal share for every eBay share they own. PayPal is set to begin trading here on the Nasdaq Monday under the ticker symbol PYPL.

Hulu vs. Netflix

Hulu is exploring plans to create an ad-free subscription service to battle with Netflix (NFLX), according to the Wall Street Journal. Right now Hulu does offer a premium service with a larger selection of films and TV shows but that service has ads.

A new billionaire

Goldman Sachs (GS) CEO Lloyd Blankfein is officially a billionaire, according to Bloomberg. He joins an elite crew of his contemporaries like JPMorgan (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon and Blackstone Group (BX) head Steve Schwarzman.

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