May 20, 2014: Markets opened lower on Tuesday and spent the whole trading day in the red. There was no economic news of note today, but sour earnings from a number of companies took all the steam out of the buy side. Shortly before the closing bell the DJIA traded down 0.75%, the S&P 500 was down 0.58%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded down 0.62%.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) led the DJIA on its slide today trading down 3.61% at $101.59 just before the closing bell. The company reported disappointing April sales figures today, especially in its resource industries (mining) segment. Volume was about equal to the daily average of around 5 million. The stock’s 52-week range is $80.86 to $108.21.

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) traded down 1.02% at $208.21 in a 52-week range of $170.99 to $235.50. Volume was about half the daily average of nearly 3.5 million shares. There were reports today that both Visa and rival MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) may exit their Russian businesses.

United Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UTX) dropped 1.62% to trade at $113.17 in a 52-week range of $90.30 to $120.66. A report that President Obama could veto the defense spending bill sent shivers up investors’ spines today. Share volume was around 10% higher than the daily average of about 3.3 million shares.

Aircraft maker The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) traded down 1.09% at $129.92 today. Rival Airbus has been complained loudly enough about some tax breaks Boeing gets that the European Commission is going to look into the matter. Share volume was about 40% below the daily average of around 4 million shares traded.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 26 looked to close lower today while just 4 were on their way to a higher finish.

ALSO READ: America’s Most Unusual Public Companies

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.