The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI -0.11%) spent much of the day in the red, but a late rally pushed the index just barely into positive territory, closing with a gain of 2 points, or 0.02%. Let's take a look at the day's winners and losers.
Industrial giant Caterpillar (CAT 0.07%) opened the trading session lower after cutting its 2012 forecast for the second time this year, but it finished up 1.5% for the day. The construction equipment-maker revised its EPS guidance down to a range of $9 to $9.25 a share from $9.60, said 2013 revenue growth would be flat, and announced that its order backlog fell 18% to $23.1 billion. However, the company did express optimism about growth in 2014 and 2015, and investors seemed to view the early setback as a buying opportunity as the manufacturer's stock is relatively cheap at a forward P/E of 8. Caterpillar also beat earnings estimates, thanks in part to a gain on the sale of a logistics division.
Other winners on the Dow included Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 1.55%), which climbed 1.6% after announcing that it won't renew its deal with Violin Memory to sell solid-state storage devices and will instead focus on selling equipment from its own subsidiary, 3PAR. The highly anticipated release of Windows 8 later this week could have added an additional boost to HP.
UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) also jumped 1.6% after raising $2.5 billion through low-interest notes toward its acquisition of Brazilian health insurer Amil.
Microsoft (MSFT 0.37%), meanwhile, led the Dow losers, falling 2.3% as pessimism about the release of its Surface tablet and Windows 8 operating system seemed to build following last week's disappointing earnings release. At the other end of the tech space, rival Apple (AAPL 1.27%) jumped 4% over anticipation of its iPad Mini release tomorrow. Investors are hoping for redemption from the lackluster iPhone 5 rollout, which was undermined by complaints about Apple Maps. Also propelling the iPhone's maker's gain were two investment houses reiterating bullish price targets and optimism about strong fourth-quarter earnings.
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