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The benchmark notched its record close?14164.53?back on Oct. 9, 2007, 4.9% above Tuesday’s close. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index fell 14.40 points, or 1%, to 1441.48, as consumer discretionary and tech stocks pinned down the index most.The technology-oriented Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 47.33, or 1.5%, to 3065.02, its sharpest single-session slide since June 25. Intel and Microsoft were the worst-performing stocks on the Dow. Analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein cut Intel’s stock-recommendation rating, noting soft demand for personal computers.
Apple fell as much as 2.3%, flirting with so-called “correction” territory signified by a 10% drop from last month’s closing high, although losses narrowed in afternoon trading. Alcoa kicked off the reporting season when the aluminum producer released its quarterly earnings in the minutes after markets closed. The company posted adjusted earnings that beat estimates, though it recorded a quarterly loss. Aggregate profits for S&P 500 companies are expected to register declines for the first time in nearly three years, and concerns about waning global growth were echoed overnight by the IMF, which cut its forecast for economic expansion to 3.3% from 3.5% in 2012.
”What everyone is pondering is the significance of the global slowdown,” said John De Clue, global investment strategist at U.S. Bank. “You’re seeing it a bit in tech today because they have so much international exposure.” In U.S. economic news, the National Federation of Independent Business small-business optimism index slipped in September from August, missing the median among estimates by economists. ... Continue to read.
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