A double-whammy hit U.S. stocks early Tuesday, when disappointing earnings from big-name companies and an unexpected drop in orders of long-lasting goods drove the Dow Jones industrial average down nearly 400 points.

KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average was down 367 points, or 2 percent, to 17,311 as of 10:55 a.m. Eastern time. The blue-chip average dropped as much as 390 points earlier. The Standard & Poor’s 500 shed 33 points, or 1.7 percent, to 2,023. The Nasdaq composite slid 103 points, or 2.2 percent, to 4,668. The indexes are declining after closing higher on Monday.

SECTOR VIEW: The 10 sectors in the S&P 500 fell, with technology stocks dropping the most. Microsoft led the decliners, shedding $4.68, or about 10 percent, to $42.33. The tech giant reported lower fourth-quarter earnings late Monday due to hefty costs.

ROUGH QUARTER: Caterpillar’s stock fell 7.3 percent after the heavy equipment maker was hurt in the fourth quarter by restructuring costs and issued a weak outlook. The stock shed $6.32 to $79.75.

ECONOMIC WORRIES: The Commerce Department reported that orders for long-lasting manufactured goods dropped 3.4 percent in December, dragged lower by a big decline in demand for commercial aircraft. There was also weakness in a number of areas, with demand for machinery, computer and primary metals all down. Economists had been forecasting a small increase for December.

HOME PRICES: A gauge of U.S. home values showed that home prices rose at a modest pace in November, held back by weaker sales and a limited number of available houses. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index increased 4.3 percent in November from 12 months earlier. That’s down slightly from a 4.5 percent pace in October.

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CURRENCY PAIN: Procter & Gamble fell 3.5 percent as the strong U.S. dollar cut into the consumer products maker’s second-quarter earnings. The company said that exchange rates will remain a challenge well into fiscal 2015, especially in the second half of its year. The stock slid $3.16 to $86.41.

EUROPEAN MARKETS: France’s CAC 40 fell 1.6 percent, while Germany’s DAX was off 1.9 percent. Investors were still weighing the implications of Sunday’s election victory by Greece’s Syriza party, which has vowed to end painful austerity policies that are a condition of the country’s international bailout program.

ASIA’S DAY: Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average jumped 1.7 percent, while South Korea’s Kospi added 0.9 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.4 percent.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude rose 20 cents to $45.35 a barrel. Oil has plunged since June, when it traded above $100, on high supplies and weak growth in demand.

BONDS: U.S. government bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.76 percent.


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