Alcoa and Chevron lead Dow Jones average down
ASSOCIATED PRESS October 10, 2012 8:22AM
In this Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012 photo, traders Stephen Guilfoyle, left, and Edward Landi work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Stock futures are mixed Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2012, a day after the U.S. earning season kicked off. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Updated: October 10, 2012 3:28PM
NEW YORK — The Dow Jones industrial average closed sharply lower after downbeat reports from two stocks in the average, Alcoa and Chevron.
Alcoa, the aluminum company, beat Wall Street earnings estimates on Tuesday night but cut its demand expectation for the year, mostly because of a slowdown in China. Chevron says slumping oil prices and production will hurt its earnings.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 128.56 points, or 1 percent, to 13,344.97. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 8.92 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,432.56. The Nasdaq composite index fell 13.24 points, or 0.4 percent, to 3,051.78.
Declining stocks outnumbered advancers by about 2-to-1. Early figures show trading volume was about average, 3.2 billion shares.
