"With minimal news out of Europe and not a lot of domestic economic data, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes were in the spotlight, and the SPX finished lower for a fifth day in a row," remarked Schaeffer's Senior Equities Analyst Joe Bell. "Second-quarter earnings were on the light side today, but will begin to pick up over the next couple weeks." The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) followed its fellow benchmark lower, marking five straight losses.

Keep reading to see what else was on our radar today:

• See why stock screeners can be a useful tool for options trading.
• Plus, 7 potential contrarian plays using Schaeffer's Expectational Analysis^® approach.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI – 12,604.53) spent only a few minutes in positive territory today, and found itself down by 119 points -- at the 12,534.33 level -- just after 2 p.m. EST. By the time the dust settled, however, the Dow reclaimed most of its losses, ending lower by 48.6 points, or 0.4%. All but nine components tumbled lower, as Boeing (NYSE:BA) and United Technologies (NYSE:UTX) led the way with deficits of 2.3% and 2.2%, respectively. Hewlett-Packard's (NYSE:HPQ) 3% uptick paced winning blue chips.

The S&P 500 Index (SPX – 1,341.45) turned in a technical defeat today, after paring all but a fraction of its losses. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite (COMP – 2,887.98) gave up 14.4 points, or 0.5% -- the worst performance of its fellow benchmarks. At their intraday lows, the SPX and COMP traded at 1,333.25 and 2,866.53, respectively

The CBOE Market Volatility Index (VIX – 17.95) dropped 4.1% today, landing just above its session low of 17.84. At one point, around 2:30 p.m. EST, the VIX was up 2.4% on the day at $19.17.

Today's highlight: "The Federal Reserve didn't rule out another round of quantitative easing, and most market participants believe the central bank is open to more economic stimulus," said Bell. "But the down side is that many think conditions will have to worsen for these measures to take place."

Turning to today's major market stories...

• The latest American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) sentiment survey showed a rise in optimism.
• Schaeffer's Quantitative Analyst Chris Prybal uncovered four ideas for contrarian trading.
• Analysts weighed in on Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Dendreon (NASDAQ:DNDN).
• Options strategist implemented a bull call spread on Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN).
• Put players bet against Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) and Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG).
• New Highs and Lows: US Airways Group (NYSE:LCC) and hhgregg (NYSE:HGG) were among the standouts in today's session.
• Options bulls are wagering on upside potential for Broadcom (NASDAQ:BRCM) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL ).
• 3 Plays for Bearish Contrarians: ARM Holdings (NASDAQ:ARMH), LSI Corporation (NYSE:LSI), and NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA).
• Schaeffer's Columnist Adam Warner investigated why stock screeners could be a good starting point for options trading.

For today's activity in commodities, options, and more, head to page 2.