Slower sales forecasts drive stock market lower

8/15/2013

NEW YORK — Stocks are sharply lower in midday trading after disappointing news from two companies in the Dow Jones industrial average.

Wal-Mart fell 2.2 percent after reporting lower revenue and cutting its profit forecast for 2013. Cisco plunged 7 percent after the network equipment maker’s outlook missed analysts’ estimates. The company also said it would slash 4,000 jobs.

The Dow was down 173 points, or 1.1 percent, to 15,164 shortly before noon today. It had been down 230 points earlier.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 18 points, or 1.1 percent, to 1,666.

The Nasdaq composite fell 47 points, or 1.3 percent, to 3,622.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note jumped to 2.80 percent, the highest since July 2011.