Stocks - Dow Tumbles Triple Digits; Caterpillar, 3M Lead Decline

Investing.com - Wall Street opened sharply lower on Tuesday with the Dow falling triple digits as a raft of geopolitical and economic concerns soured sentiment for global equities and weak earnings reports added to risk-off sentiment.

At 9:31 AM ET (13:31 GMT), the Dow Jones slid 416 points, or 1.64% to 24,901.60, the S&P 500 fell 43 points, or 1.55% to 2,713.05, while the Nasdaq Composite traded down 142 points, or 1.90%, to 7,326.62.

Pessimism gripped investors amid renewed concerns over a host of economic and geopolitical issues, including U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to pull out of the US-Russia nuclear arms agreement, U.S. midterm elections and the fallout from the murder of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi.

Concerns over the U.S.-China trade war, the dispute over Italy’s budget and a lack of progress in Brexit negotiations also soured market sentiment.

In a busy week for earnings, with 32% of the S&P 500 companies reporting this week, the downpour of earnings released ahead of the opening bell Tuesday added to the loss of risk appetite.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), considered a bellwether for the global economy, led losses on the Dow as the company reiterated its forecast for 2018 earnings per share of $11.00 to $12.00, the midpoint falling below expectations of $11.65. Shares were off 7%.

3M (NYSE:MMM) was the second-largest decliner on the index, falling 6.3%, as its third-quarter results missed consensus and the company issued disappointing full-year earnings guidance.

In positive company news, McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) managed to escape the losses and led gainers on the blue-chip index with a 3.2% rise thanks to quarterly results that beat on the top and bottom lines.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) also registered gains of 3.1%, making it the second biggest advancer, after the company reported better-than-expected new subscriber numbers.

As investors pulled money out of stocks, safe haven assets benefited from the rotation, with gold hitting a three-month high.

At 9:44 AM ET (13:44 GMT), gold futures gained 1.61%, or $19.70, % at $1,24.900, while the Japanese yen rose 0.6% against the dollar and appetite for the 10-year Treasury pushed yields down.

The yield, which moves inversely to bond prices, was last off 6.4 basis points to 3.130%.

Tuesday will be a light day for economic data, with only the Richmond Fed’s monthly report on manufacturing activity on the docket.

Some Federal Reserve policymakers were scheduled for remarks on the economy and monetary policy, including Atlanta Fed chief Raphael Bostic, Dallas Fed head Robert Kaplan and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans.

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Meanwhile, oil prices fell to their lowest level in more than five weeks on Tuesday, as investors looked ahead to the release of fresh weekly data on U.S. commercial crude inventories.

The American Petroleum Institute is due to release its weekly report for the week ended Oct. 19 at 4:30 PM ET (20:30 GMT). Official data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration will be released on Wednesday, amid expectations of an increase of about 3.55 million barrels.