Wall Street falls for third day as earnings disappoint

(Reuters) - Wall Street fell for the third straight day on Thursday following disappointing results and forecasts from companies including 3M and Caterpillar , adding to U.S. profit concerns.

The manufacturing companies' declines helped push the Dow Jones industrial average back into the red for the year. Also hurting the Dow was American Express , down 2.6 percent at $76.95 after revenue missed expectations.

Caterpillar shares fell 3.7 percent to $76.88 and hit a four-year low of $76.65. The world's largest construction and mining equipment maker reported sales declines in key markets in a sluggish global economy.

"Companies such as Caterpillar are a litmus test for the global economy, especially at a time when the market is concerned about China's economy," said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia.

Nine of the 10 major S&P 500 sectors were lower with the utilities index <.SPLRCU> leading the decliners with a 1.8 percent fall.

The materials index <.SPLRCM> fell 1.5 percent with Dow Chemical's 5.2 percent drop to $47.45 weighing the most on the sector. Dow Chemical warned of soft demand in China after posting stronger-than-expected results.

At 2:56 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 115.88 points, or 0.65 percent, to 17,735.16, the S&P 500 <.SPX> lost 11.58 points, or 0.55 percent, to 2,102.57 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> dropped 22.30 points, or 0.43 percent, to 5,149.47.

3M was down 3.5 percent at $149.91 after the diversified manufacturer cut its full-year forecast.

While markets remain near record highs, second-quarter S&P 500 earnings have been mixed, with 75 percent of reports so far beating analysts' profit expectations and just 52 percent surpassing revenue expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The S&P 500 is currently trading at 16.9 times forward 12 months earnings, above the 10-year median of 14.7 times, according to StarMine data.

Qualcomm fell 4.4 percent to $61.40, a day after the chipmaker said it may break itself up as it delivered its third profit warning this year.

On the plus side, SanDisk jumped 16.2 percent to $62.94, a day after the data storage products maker reported a quarterly profit that was double of what analysts had expected.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 2,094 to 934, for a 2.24-to-1 ratio on the downside; on the Nasdaq, 1,870 issues fell and 891 advanced for a 2.10-to-1 ratio favoring decliners.

The S&P 500 was posting 31 new 52-week highs and 39 new lows; the Nasdaq was recording 101 new highs and 125 new lows.

(Additional reporting by Tanya Agrawal; editing by Don Sebastian and Nick Zieminski)

WhatsAppFacebookTwitterLinkedinBeloudBluesky