STOCKS FALL: Here's What You Need To Know

The markets took a mixed global pulse check in stride.

First, the scoreboard:

• Dow: 15,525.7, -42.1, -0.2%
• S&P 500: 1,685.3, -7.3, -0.4%
• NASDAQ: 3,579.2, +0.0, +0.0%

And now, the top stories:

• Overnight, we learned that the deceleration of China's manufacturing sector continued to get worse in July. The Flash PMI fell to an 11-month low of 47.7, which was worse than the 48.2 reading expected by economists.
• On the brighter side, the economic bleeding in Europe seems to have stopped. The Eurozone composite Flash PMI jumped to an 18-month high of 50.4 in July, up from 48.7 a month ago.
• Global construction and mining machinery maker Caterpillar announced its Q2 financial results, and the numbers weren't good for anyone. Earnings missed expectations by a wide margin and the stock price fell over 2%.
• Even worse, Caterpillar downgraded its outlook for global growth. "World economic growth slowed in the first half of the year, and we are revising our growth estimates downwards," they said. "Although we expect some improvement in the second half, the improvement will be less than previously expected. Currently, we expect that world economic growth for 2013 will be a little over 2 percent, slightly slower than in 2012."
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