Toward the end of trading Wednesday, the Dow traded down 0.31 percent to 15,419.96 while the NASDAQ tumbled 0.58 percent to 3,906.54. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.43 percent to 1,747.40.
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 25.21 percent to $26.22 after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.
Shares of Corning
GLW got a boost, shooting up 13.94 percent to $17.48 after the company announced its plans to acquire full ownership of Samsung Corning Precision Materials.
Cole Real Estate Investments COLE was also up, gaining 8.23 percent to $13.88 after American Realty Capital ARCP agreed to buy Cole Real Estate.
Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Cree
CREE were down 17.45 percent to $61.35 after the company issued a downbeat earnings forecast for the fiscal fourth quarter. Needham downgraded Cree from Buy to Hold.
Gigamon
GIMO was also down, falling 10.61 percent to $35.47 after the company priced its 5.1 million share follow on secondary offering at $38.50 per share Tuesday.
RF Micro Devices RFMD was down, falling 8.28 percent to $5.65 after the company issued downbeat current-quarter revenue outlook.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 1.43 percent to $96.89, while gold traded down 0.75 percent to $1,332.50.
Silver traded down 0.49 percent Wednesday to $22.59, while copper fell 2.14 percent to $3.26.
Euro zone
European shares
were lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 1.95 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index declined 2.38 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX dropped 0.42 percent and the French CAC 40 tumbled 0.81 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.48 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 percent in August, versus economists' expectations for a 0.80 percent gain.
Crude stockpiles climbed 5.2 million barrels for the week ended October 18, the US Energy Information Administration reported. However, analysts were expecting an increase of 3 million barrels.
