LONDON (ShareCast) - US stocks finished sharply lower on Tuesday as the quarterly earnings season got off to a bad start.

Pierre Lapointe, an analyst for Brockhouse & Cooper, said that the resistance of many companies to raise their forecasts for the second quarter seems to indicate that this period will be disappointing.

“Investors did not get many indications from companies on the strength of earnings […] The risk is that we will get more earnings misses than usual.”

Meanwhile, falling bonds yields in Spain helped European markets higher today after Eurozone finance ministers agreed to give the nation €30bn of the €100bn it needs to recapitalise its banks as early as the end of the month.

The Eurogroup also announced that they would allow Spain extra time to reach its deficit targets.

COMPANIES

Alcoa, the aluminium producing giant which kicked off earnings season last night after the close, fell by 4% after revealing that it had swung to a loss in the second quarter with a falling aluminium price partly to blame.

Engine maker Cummins sank after warning that 2012 revenues will be flat year-on-year. The group had initially forecast 10% sales growth.

Both Boeing and General Electric (GE) fell despite having signed a deal at the Farnborough International Air Show in which Boeing will sell 100 737 aircraft for up to 9.25bn dollars. GE's aircraft leasing company, GE Capital Aviation Services, will acquire 25 current generation 737 airplanes and 75 updated 737 Max airplanes.


S&P 500 - Risers
Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) $9.63 +4.22%
Monster Worldwide Inc. (MWW) $8.39 +3.58%
Harley-Davidson Inc. (HOG) $47.09 +3.06%
Supervalu Inc. (SVU) $5.15 +3.00%
Metropcs Communications Inc. (PCS) $6.48 +2.53%
VF Corp. (VFC) $137.24 +2.42%
Target Corp. (TGT) $59.23 +2.05%
Express Scripts Holding Co (ESRX) $55.34 +1.80%
Republic Services Inc. (RSG) $26.39 +1.62%
Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN) $27.93 +1.49%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) $4.99 -11.21%
Cummins Inc. (CMI) $86.91 -8.94%
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $18.69 -6.46%
Alpha Natural Res (ANR) $7.53 -6.11%
J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (JCP) $20.76 -5.76%
Denbury Resources Inc. (DNR) $13.91 -5.44%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $6.16 -5.08%
AK Steel Holding Corp. (AKS) $5.81 -5.07%
MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR) $2.27 -5.02%
Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR) $13.01 -4.90%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $34.25 +0.85%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $90.25 +0.50%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $72.11 +0.49%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $47.65 +0.38%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $61.73 +0.29%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $63.21 +0.22%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $52.22 +0.19%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $67.88 +0.15%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $8.40 -4.11%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $80.27 -3.45%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $25.56 -2.33%
General Electric Co. (GE) $19.62 -2.10%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $41.37 -1.80%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $186.26 -1.80%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $19.11 -1.65%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $16.41 -1.44%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $47.36 -1.33%
Boeing Co. (BA) $73.22 -1.09%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Express Scripts Holding Co (ESRX) $55.34 +1.80%
Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN) $27.93 +1.49%
Nll Holdings Inc. (NIHD) $9.27 +1.09%
Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFM) $95.12 +1.06%
Stericycle Inc. (SRCL) $93.42 +0.98%
Hologic Inc. (HOLX) $18.32 +0.71%
O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $87.22 +0.56%
Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) $15.82 +0.44%
Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB) $143.75 +0.41%
Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) $31.35 +0.26%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM) $7.27 -5.22%
Sandisk Corp. (SNDK) $34.66 -4.23%
Apollo Group Inc. (APOL) $33.92 -3.90%
Expedia Inc. (EXPE) $45.73 -3.67%
Logitech International S.A. (LOGI) $10.15 -3.66%
Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) $531.77 -3.56%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $109.30 -3.42%
Life Technologies Corp. (LIFE) $41.26 -3.35%
Foster Wheeler AG (FWLT) $15.89 -3.17%
Qiagen N.V. (QGEN) $16.50 -3.11%

BC

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