Following the market opening Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.57 percent to 15,378.93 while the NASDAQ tumbled 0.90 percent to 3,894.19. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.69 percent to 1,742.60.
Top Headline
Caterpillar
CAT reported
downbeat third-quarter earnings and cut its full-year view.
Caterpillar's quarterly earnings fell to $946 million, or $1.45 per share, from $1.70 billion, or $2.54 per share, in the year-ago period.
Its total sales declined to $13.42 billion from $16.45 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.68 per share on revenue of $14.29 billion. Caterpillar now projects 2013 profit of $5.50 per share on sales of $55 billion.
Equities Trading UP
Apollo Group
APOL shot up 19.20 percent to $24.96 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.
Shares of Corning
GLW got a boost, shooting up 15.21 percent to $17.68 after the company announced its plans to acquire full ownership of Samsung Corning Precision Materials.
Cole Real Estate Investments
COLE was also up, gaining 13.92 percent to $14.60 after
American Realty Capital ARCP agreed to buy Cole Real Estate.
Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Cree
CREE were down 19.06 percent to $60.15 after the company issued a downbeat earnings forecast for the fiscal fourth quarter. Needham downgraded Cree from Buy to Hold.
Broadcom
BRCM shares tumbled 7.92 percent to $24.99 after the company issued weak Q4 revenue forecast.
RF Micro Devices
RFMD was down, falling 10.06 percent to $5.54 after the company
issued downbeat current-quarter revenue outlook.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 1.61 percent to $97.62, while gold traded down 0.63 percent to $1,334.20.
Silver traded down 0.50 percent Wednesday to $22.68, while copper fell 1.50 percent to $3.29.
Euro zone
European shares
were lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.66 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index declined 1.42 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.24 percent and the French CAC 40 tumbled 0.73 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.33 percent.
Economics
The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its index of mortgage application activity declined 0.6 percent in the week ending October 18, versus a 0.3 percent rise in the earlier week.
Import prices climbed 0.2 percent in September, versus a 0.2 percent gain in August.
The FHFA home-price index rose 0.30% in August, versus economists' expectations for a 0.80 percent gain.
