October 22, 2014: Markets opened higher on Wednesday but stocks began to slide before noon and eventually the three major indexes look to finish with a loss. The shooting in Ottawa is the only geopolitical event that may have hurt equities today, but it’s also possible that at least one of today’s earnings reports was not all it appeared to be. Shortly before the closing bell the DJIA traded down 0.90% for the day, the S&P 500 traded down 0.70%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded down 0.79%.

The Dow 30 stock posting the largest daily loss ahead of the close today was The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) which traded lower by 4.40% at $121.53. The stock’s 52-week range is $106.65 to $135.10. Volume was about 13-times higher than the daily average of around 4 million shares. The company beat estimates today, but costs on its 787 are not dropping as quickly as analysts expect, and there could be a change in the production rate of the company’s 777s.

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) traded down 1.99% at $83.94. The stock’s 52-week range is $78.41 to $96.24. The credit card giant had no specific news today, but the financial sector stocks were down about 1% today. The company’s volume was about 10% below the daily average of around 4.3 million shares.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) traded down 1.18% at $44.35. The stock’s 52-week range is $33.57 to $47.57. Trading volume was about 15% below the daily average of around 34 million shares. The company reports earnings results after markets close tomorrow.

3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) traded down 1.47% at $138.86 in a 52-week range of $122.50 to $147.87. Volume was about 40% above the daily average of around 2.6 million shares. 3M also reports earnings on Wednesday and investors may be getting nervous.

Of the Dow 30 stocks only 7 are set to close higher today and 23 are on track to close lower.

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