NEW YORK (
) -- U.S. stocks finished Wednesday lower
amid weak Chinese and European manufacturing data and ongoing questions about Greece's stability
.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
fell 27.02 points, or 0.21%, to 12,938.67. The
S&P 500
dropped 4.55 points to 1,357.66 and the
Nasdaq Composite
posted a loss of 15.4 points to end the day at 2,933.17.
Breadth within the Dow was negative with 20 of the index's 30 components posting losses.
The biggest decliners in the index were
Intel
(INTC) - Get Report
,
Wal-Mart
(WMT) - Get Report
and
Bank of America
(BAC) - Get Report
.
|
Wal-Mart shares dropped 2.45% to $58.60. On Tuesday morning, the world's largest retailer reported fourth-quarter earnings of $5.2 billion, or $1.51 a share, up from year-ago earnings of $5 billion, or $1.41 a share.
Wal-Mart rival
Target
(TGT) - Get Report
reports its fourth-quarter results Thursday. Analysts, on average, anticipate earnings of $1.40 a share on $21.2 billion in revenue.
TheStreet Ratings
gives Wal-Mart an A- grade with a buy rating and
price target.
Bank of America shares fell 1.97% to $7.95. The stock has risen 45% in 2012, prompting questions about whether investors should think about
.
Rochdale Securities banking analyst Dick Bove, however, thinks Bank of America shares
can climb to $30 in the next four years
.
Bank of America gets a
and sell rating from
TheStreet Ratings
.
Intel shares fell following technology rival
Dell's
(DELL) - Get Report
on Tuesday. Dell reported earnings of 51 cents a share on revenue of $16.01 billion; analysts were expecting profit of 52 cents a share on revenue of $15.96 billion.
Shares of Intel fell 1.58% to $26.73.
TheStreet Ratings
gives Intel an A+ grade with a buy rating and a
price target.
The biggest gainer in the index was
Caterpillar
(CAT) - Get Report
. Shares rose 81 cents to $115.81.
--
Written by Alexandra Zendrian in New York
.
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