U.S. stocks fell more than 1 percent Wednesday as fears of turmoil in the Middle East added to ongoing concerns about a fiscal showdown in the United States.  In the six trading days since the presidential election, the Dow Jones has lost nearly 700 points, or about 5 percent. Read More

Wall Street was lower again on Tuesday while traders fretted over a delay in organizing a crucial installment of bailout money for Greece and the approaching “fiscal cliff” in the United States.

The Dow Jones Industrials dumped 58.90 points to finish the session at 12,756.20. Read More

North American stocks continued to struggle after the U.S. benchmark index fell 2.4% last week, extending a losing streak driven by uncertainty over whether the United States can avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. U.S. stocks seesawed Monday, as investors fret about the looming fiscal cliff and keep a wary eye on Europe and Greece. Read More

Stocks traded in a narrow range Wednesday afternoon, as investors found little reason to place any big bets with earnings season in full-bloom. Earnings and outlooks are keeping investors on the sidelines as business overseas is hamstringing growth for major corporations. The Wall Street slide on Wednesday added to triple-digit losses on Tuesday and made it four out of five days with red closes that have yanked almost 500 points from the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Today’s close for the Dow was its lowest since September 3.

The Dow faded 25.19 points to end Wednesday at 13,077.30.

The S&P 500 index slid 4.36 points to 1,408.75, while the Nasdaq dipped 8.77 points to 2,981.70.

Earnings from Facebook helped reverse some of the gloom surrounding third quarter corporate results. Investors were relieved that Facebook’s earnings came in as expected, and sales rose 24%.

Tractor Supply Co. reported third-quarter profits increasing to $50.02 million, or 69 cents a share, from $42.73 million, or 58 cents a share, in the year prior quarter. Revenue for Q3 increased from $977.8 million last year to $1.07 billion in the latest quarter. The revenue total was spot on with analyst predictions and earnings per share were 2 cents higher. The Brentwood, Tennessee-based company also boosted its full-year 2012 earnings outlook to between $3.63 and $3.69 a share from previous estimates of $3.58 to $3.66. Shares still fell to $93.00 in after-hours trading, a drop of 2.27 percent.

Boeing reported earnings that beat analysts” expectations and raised its profit outlook for the year. By late afternoon, the aircraft manufacturer’s stock dipped slightly, after being among the biggest gainers on the Dow for most of the day. AT&T, another of the major blue chips, edged lower despite activating 1.3 million iPhones during the quarter.

Shares of LinkedIn and Yelp found traction as well with Zynga feeling some bullishness.

Local business review website Angie’s List has never posted a profit and the latest quarter wasn’t any different. The company posted a loss of $18.5 million, or 32 cents per share, compared with a loss of $17.4 million, or 66 cents per share a year earlier as the number of shares outstanding more than doubled. On the bright side, revenue leapt by 75 percent to $42 million. Wall Street was expected Angie to notch $41 million in revenue and a loss of 33 cents per share. The analyst beat helped shares jump almost 14 percent in after-hours trading to $10.35.

The Manhattan U.S. attorney filed a $1 billion U.S. lawsuit against Bank of America Corp for what it claims are the bank’s fraudulent practices underwriting mortgages through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

Netflix shares plunged nearly 12%, after the company reported disappointing earnings for new streaming subscriptions and offered weak guidance.

Also diving were shares of F5 Networks as the networking equipment maker said that it expects fiscal first-quarter earnings of $1.14 to $1.16 a share on revenue of $363 million to $370 million. Analysts were calling for earnings of $1.20 a share on $373 million in revenue. Shares doffed-of f more than 10 percent in after-market activity to $83.49.

On the U.S. economic front, new home sales for September beat economists” expectations, offering yet another sign of an improving housing market. The U.S. Census Bureau said that new home sales for September came in at an annual rate of 389,000, climbing 5.7% to hit a two-year high.

Investors shrugged off the U.S. Federal Reserve”s latest policy statement, which, as expected, didn”t signal any major changes to interest rates or the central bank”s plan to stimulate the economy through large bond-buying programs.

The price of the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury sagged, raising the yield to 1.78% from Tuesday”s 1.76%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices fell $1.05 to $85.62 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices dropped back $6.90 to $1,702.50 U.S. an ounce.

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) Stock Quote and News:

U.S. stocks fought their way slightly higher Monday as investors took a cautious approach at the start of a big week for Corporate America. During the week, 140 of the S&P 500 companies will be reporting earnings; keeping traders sharp to fluctuations and intraday trends. Read More

Stocks moved higher Monday as investors welcomed a sharp rise in retail sales and better-than-expected quarterly earnings from Citigroup.

The Dow Jones Industrial average leaped 95.38 points to close at 13,424.20

The S&P 500 prospered 11.54 points to 1,440.13, while the tech-rich Nasdaq recovered 20.07 points to 3,064.18

Bank stocks were among the best performers after Citigroup reported third-quarter earnings that topped analysts’ forecasts. Shares of Citi rose about 4%. Bank of America and JPMorgan were also higher.

American International Group was the best insurance play today with a 1.6% advance.

Shares of Cablevision paced S&P 500 performers with a 4.85% climb, riding the news from last week that it is considering selling Bresnan Broadband Holdings LLC, a provider of TV and internet services.

On the other side of the coin, shares of MetroPCS Communications lead the S&P 500 laggards with a 4.9% decline as investors realize that the company – which is in the midst of a merger itself with T-Mobile – will have to compete with a stronger Sprint Nextel now that Japan’s Softbank is taking a major position in the company.

Sprint agreed to sell a 70 percent stake of itself to Softbank Corp. in a deal valued at $20.1 billion. Clearwire Corp., who has Sprint as a large shareholder, continued to leg upward on the news.

Among the blue chips reporting results this week are Intel, Bank of America, IBM and Johnson & Johnson

Eli Lilly shares rose after the pharmaceutical company said a study of its gastric cancer drug showed positive results.

Shares of rival drug maker Abbott rose after it announced upbeat results for an initial study of its treatment of hepatitis C.

Yahoo Inc. saw its shares demur 1.1% after Stifel Nicolaus lowered its Q3 earnings estimates for the online media company from 28 cents per share to 23 cents per share.

Shares of Workday, which made a strong NYSE debut last week, kept their upward trajectory by rising another 6.67% to $51.94.

Shares of toy maker Hasbro fell more than 2% after analysts at Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to sell. Goldman cited a sharp decline in the amount of money consumers spend on toys and games. Shares of rival toy company Mattel sympathetically fell as well.

Media conglomerate Gannett and brokerage Charles Schwab both reported earnings that beat forecasts.

Economically speaking, retail sales jumped 1.1% in September, boosted by higher gas prices and electronic sales, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s higher than the 0.7% rise expected by analysts.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s monthly Empire State Manufacturing Index remained in negative territory in October, but improved to a reading of -6.2 compared to a reading of -10.4 in September.

Overseas, a report Monday showed that inflation in China slowed in September. Chinese consumers paid 1.9% more for goods in September than they did a year earlier, the government’s National Bureau of Statistics reported. That’s down from a 2% increase in August.

The price of the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury was unchanged on the day, keeping the yield at Friday’s 1.66%.

Oil prices recovered from lows, but still slipped 22 cents to $91.64 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices fell $21.10 to $1,738.60 U.S. an ounce.

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) Stock Quote and News:

American stocks were mixed with the Dow edging lower and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq squeaking ahead on Tuesday as a lack of conviction kept investors on the sidelines. Sentiment is torn ahead of quarterly reports starting to flow in and the euro zone’s financial turmoil as Spain is in focus in need of a bailout package. Read More

A rally on Wall Street lost steam Monday afternoon following comments from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke. Stocks had started the day strong as data from the Institute for Supply Management showed that its manufacturing index climbed into expansion territory for the first time after three straight months of contraction. Traders also found solace in words from Charles Evans, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, who praised Read More

U.S. stocks drifted lower Tuesday afternoon as worries about global economic growth overshadowed positive reports on the U.S. housing market and consumer confidence. Read More

U.S. stocks logged modest victories Thursday, after being stuck in the red for much of the day disappointing reports in Asia and Europe showed further signs of slowing global growth. Read More