January 27, 2015: Markets opened lower on Tuesday after pre-market earnings reports from several of the DJIA blue chips came in a little short, and we’ll give some details on that in the following paragraphs. The soft earnings reports weighed on others that will be coming out after the bell Tuesday. Shortly before the closing bell the DJIA traded down 1.67% for the day, the S&P 500 traded down 1.34%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded down 1.84%.

The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Tuesday was Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) which traded down 9.30% at $42.64. The stock’s 52-week range is $35.69 to $50.05. Trading volume was about 5-times the daily average of around 30 million shares. The company reported soft earnings after markets closed last night and the downgrades came in force Tuesday.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) traded down 7.18% at $79.85. The stock’s 52-week range is $79.10 to $111.46. The low was posted today. Trading volume was about 5-times the daily average of around 5.2 million shares. The company posted weak results Tuesday morning and warned of more trouble ahead.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) traded down 4.25% at $34.28. The stock’s 52-week range is $23.50 to $37.90. Trading volume is about 40% higher than the daily average of around 30 million shares. The stock slipped on the weak results at Microsoft, especially in sales of Windows.

The Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) traded lower by 3.58% at $86.36. The stock’s 52-week range is $75.26 to $93.89. Trading volume was about 65% above the daily average of around 7 million shares. The consumer products giant expects profit pressure next year as the dollar strengthens.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 29 are set to close lower today and just 1 (United Technologies) is on track to close higher.

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