Bulls Take a Pounding

As a result, the midpoint of TI's guidance was unchanged. Its shares slipped 85 cents, or 2.6%, to $31.74.

Qualcomm (QCOM Quote) had a more positive take on the current quarter. The company raised its earnings and revenue forecast for the period, projecting earnings of 48 cents to 49 cents a share and revenue of $2.1 billion to $2.2 billion. The stock added $1.71, or 4.3%, to finish at $41.83.

Another bright spot was Goldman Sachs (GS Quote), which posted first-quarter earnings of $3.2 billion, or $6.67 a share, up 29% from a year ago and well ahead of estimates. Revenue rose to $12.73 billion, which also beat the Thomson First Call average estimate. However, shares shed $3.57, or 1.8%, to $199.03.

Energy prices turned lower, with oil relinquishing early gains. Crude tumbled 98 cents to close at $57.93 a barrel, its lowest finish since late January. The move comes a day after crude futures fell more than $1. Natural gas eased 2 cents to $6.89 per million British thermal units. Gold was lower by 90 cents to close at $649.40 an ounce.

Overseas, stocks in Asia were mostly lower. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 lost 0.7% to 17,179, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.6% to 19,333. London's FTSE 100 was off 0.5% at 6205, and Frankfurt's Xetra DAX was weaker by 0.6% at 6676.