Stock indexes edge lower on Wall Street, paring October's advance; Avon Products slumps

10/31/2013
ASSOCIATED PRESS
  • Wall-Street-400

    Trader Kenneth Polcari, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013. Stocks edged lower in early trading on Wall Street Thursday, paring the market's big gain for October. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

    ASSOCIATED PRESS

    • NEW YORK — Stocks are ending slightly lower on Wall Street but still finished October with a gain.

    The Dow Jones industrial average fell 73 points, or 0.5 percent, to 15,545 points today.

    The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell six points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,756. The Nasdaq composite fell 10 points, or 0.3 percent, to 3,919.

    The S&P 500 rose 4.5 percent in October, its best gain since July, despite uncertainty caused by the U.S. government shutdown and the near-breach of the nation’s borrowing limit.

    Kraft Foods and MetLife fell after their profits missed Wall Street’s forecasts.

    Avon Products plunged after saying that the Securities and Exchange Commission is proposing a much larger penalty to settle bribery allegations than it expected. Avon’s profit also missed analysts’ forecasts.