Dow, S&P 500 Fall, NASDAQ Rises

Stocks closed mixed on Wednesday, after disappointing earnings from Alcoa
(
AA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
yesterday and warnings from Chevron
(
CVX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
and Valero Energy
(
VLO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
. The Dow and S&P 500 declined, while the NASDAQ advanced..

Alcoa reported a rise in Q3 EPS and increased the size of its stock buyback plan, from 10% to 25% (read more).

Valero Energy warned that Q3 profits will be impacted by narrowing margins (read more). Chevron announced that earnings will be significantly below its previous quarter.

Helen Of Troy
(
HELE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
fell to a 52-week low, despite reporting earnings grew by 60%.

Chrysler’s United Auto Worker’s union members went on strike today, with the estimated cost to the company being approximately $50 million per day (full story).

Market Snapshot

Dow

-85.84 14078.69

NASDAQ

7.70 2811.61

S&P 500

-2.68 1562.47

  NYSE NASDAQ

Volume

1,162,027,490 1,955,664,005

Up Volume

504,658,750 1,182,529,372

Down Volume

634,275,200 743,745,484

Advances

1572 1388

Declines

1718 1538

New Highs

233 169

New Lows

18 49

Strongest/Weakest Industry Groups

Strongest Industries

% Change

Weakest Industries

% Change
Copper
+3.47%
-2.72%
Oil & Gas Equipment & Services
+2.87%
Aerospace/Defense – Major Diversified
-2.17%
Healthcare Information Services
+2.58%
Photographic Equipment & Supplies
-2.51%


Economic
News

Wholesale Inventories (Aug): Actual 0.1%, Consensus 0.3%