Stocks Are Getting Crushed
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow was down 292 points, the S&P 500 was down 25 points, and the Nasdaq was down 76 points.
All of the major averages were down at least 1.2%, with the Dow and Nasdaq down more than 1.5%.
The big news weighing on the Dow is from Caterpillar and Microsoft.
Caterpillar on Tuesday morning gave a really downbeat outlook for the global economy in 2015 as its earnings missed expectations and the company gave a revenue outlook for 2015 that was about 10% below Wall Street expectations.
In early trade on Tuesday, shares of Caterpillar were down as much as 7%.
Microsoft shares were also weighing on the Dow, falling more than 9% shortly after the bell after the tech giant last night gave a gloomy outlook for 2015, cutting estimates to "reflect a significantly more challenging transition ahead."
Economic data on Tuesday was also disappointing, with December's durable goods orders report showing that orders fell 3.4% against expectations for an increase od 0.3%. November's report was also revised lower.
The Case-Shiller report on home prices showed prices rising, but at a slower pace than a year ago, and in the Case-Shiller release, David Blitzer said, "Prospects for a home run in 2015 aren't good."