Wall Street slips after dismal Caterpillar, Boeing results

The benchmark S&P 500 index hovered near record levels on Wednesday as semiconductor stocks rallied on reassuring comments from Texas Instruments on global chip demand and blunted the impact of weak earnings from bellwethers Boeing and Caterpillar. Trade-sensitive Caterpillar Inc (N:CAT) dropped 4.4% following disappointing earnings on weak sales in China, and higher production and restructuring costs. Boeing Co (N:BA) slipped 2.6% after the world's largest plane maker posted its largest-ever quarterly loss on the back of this year's grounding of its best-selling 737 MAX after two deadly crashes. Their bleak earnings dragged the blue-chip Dow index (DJI) down more than 100 points, but the surge in chipmakers brought the S&P 500 just 0.3% away from its all-time high of 3,017.80. "Caterpillar's earnings didn't instill confidence in markets as it shows the negative impact of tariffs and a slowdown in the Chinese economy," said Paul Brigandi, managing director of portfolio management at Direxion Funds in New York.