US stocks end in the red

21 of 30 Dow components ended in negative terrain led by Caterpillar

U.S. stocks closed lower on Wednesday, 23 October 2013 with the S&P 500 falling from a record, as investors assessed mixed results from U.S. corporations, including a disappointment from equipment-maker Caterpillar. Stocks slumped at the open as cautious-sounding headlines from China combined with continued weakness among momentum names conspired to keep equities in the red throughout the session.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 54.33 points, or 0.4%, to close at 15,413.33. The S&P 500 index fell 8.29 points, or 0.5%, to close at 1,746.38. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 22.49 points, or 0.6%, to close at 3,907.07.

21 of 30 Dow components ended in negative terrain. Energy was the worst performing and consumer staples fared the best of the 10 major industry sectors.

Caterpillar paced blue-chip losses, off 6.1% after the heavy equipment lowered its earnings outlook. Boeing shares led gains on the Dow, closing up 5.3%, after the plane manufacturer raised its 2013 forecast.

Rising short-term interest rates in China recently are starting to worry the market place a bit. Rising rates could be a harbinger to Chinese banking officials tightening monetary policy. That in turn would crimp demand coming from the world's second-largest economy, which is also a big importer of raw commodities. An overheating housing market in China was also in the news headlines just recently, which is also worrisome.

Tuesday's U.S. employment report bolstered notions the Federal Reserve will not be tapering its monthly bond-buying program, also called quantitative easing, any time soon. It will be at least the second quarter of 2014 before the Fed makes any significant changes in its monetary policy. That scenario is at least a temporary bullish factor for many markets, including stock indexes, the precious metals and the raw commodity sector.

On the economic front at Wall Street, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index slipped 0.6% to follow last week's uptick of 0.3%. Separately, the August Housing Price Index from the FHFA increased 0.3%, which followed an increase of 0.8% observed during the prior month.

Lastly, export prices, excluding agriculture, ticked up 0.3% in September after an unchanged prior reading. Excluding oil, import prices rose 0.1%, which followed last month's decline of 0.2%.

Gold futures settled with a loss on Wednesday, 23 October 2013 giving back a portion of the hefty gains notched in the wake of disappointing monthly U.S. jobs numbers that lifted prices to their highest close in almost five weeks a day earlier. Gold prices ended the U.S. day session moderately lower Wednesday with profit-taking which featured following recent gains. It was an uneventful day of trading in the U.S., as U.S. economic data failed to move markets.

December gold gave up $8.60, or 0.6%, to settle at $1,334 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. December silver shed 17 cents, or 0.8%, to $22.62 an ounce.

Crude Oil futures closed lower on Wednesday, 23 October 2013 at Nymex for a second consecutive session after U.S. government data showed that crude inventories rose more than expected, for a fifth week in a row.

Crude oil for December delivery dropped $1.44, or 1.5%, to settle at $96.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices traded at around $96.54 before the inventory figures.

In the latest weekly inventory report, the EIA reported that crude stockpiles rose 5.2 million barrels for the week ended 18 October 2013. Market was looking for a climb of 3 million barrels. EIA data show that crude inventories have now climbed for five weeks in a row, by a total of 24.1 million barrels.

Declining stocks outnumbered advancers slightly on the New York Stock Exchange, where more than 708 million shares traded by the close. Composite volume surpassed 3.6 billion. Decliners outnumbered gainers by nearly two to one on the Nasdaq, where more than 463 million shares traded by the close. Composite volume for Nasdaq-listed stocks topped 1.9 billion shares.

Indian ADRs ended weak on Wednesday. In the IT space, Infosys shed 1.02% at $54.17 and Wipro was down 0.79% at $11.25. In the banking space, HDFC Bank fell 1.32% at $34.39 and ICICI Bank slipped 1.55% at $34.82. In the other sectors, Tata Motors shed 2.43% at $30.46 and Dr Reddys Laboratories was down 1.95% at $39.15.

Tomorrow, weekly initial claims and the August trade deficit will all be reported at 8:30 ET.

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