It's a third straight day of decline for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI -1.28%). On the heels of the first Dow earnings release of the season, the index has lost 1% as of 2 p.m. EDT for a 131-point drop on the day and doesn't look to be rebounding before the closing bell. From a lagging sector to a super retail stock ignoring the bearish blues, let's have a look around the Dow in afternoon trading.
Alcoa's disappointing lead
Many around the markets have predicted this quarter's earnings season to be a particularly rough go-round, and Alcoa's (AA) results didn't make for a promising kickoff. While the aluminum manufacturer did top analyst projections for revenue and adjusted earnings, the company recorded an overall quarterly net loss and cautioned that metal demand would decline based on China's slowing growth. That warning certainly didn't help Alcoa's stock, which leads the downward charge today, plunging 4.7%
Alcoa's cautionary statement proceeded to bring down another of the Dow's major manufacturers. As one of the world's largest suppliers of industrial goods, Caterpillar (CAT -6.30%) has fallen more than 2% on the demand estimates. Shares of the company now trade near 52-week lows, so investors bullish on a global economic turnaround could see a great time to buy. However, given the IMF's bleak portrait of next year's economic growth, manufacturing demand seems likely to continue spinning its wheels for the near future.
More laggards and a lone leader
Conglomerates United Technologies (RTX 0.80%) and General Electric (GE 0.89%) have fallen on the gloomy economic outlook, declining 1.4% and 0.6%, respectively. Tech and big oil have also declined on the day, with shares of Cisco (CSCO -0.72%) and Chevron (CVX 0.79%) leading their respective sectors down. Chevron in particular has taken a hit, falling more than 4.3% for the day due to low oil prices and Hurricane Isaac's impact on production. The oil giant predicted declining profit for Q3 in the report, sparking the drop.
Only four stocks are in the green as of 1:45 p.m. EDT, but Wal-Mart (WMT 0.81%) has certainly done its part to buck the day's disappointing results. The retail king announced it would be adding stores and claimed strong results from its back-to-school operations. Shares of Wal-Mart have risen 2.9% on the day, giving Dow investors a glimmer of optimism among the sea of red.
