Market Wrap-Up

Stocks headed lower Wednesday for the second straight session as third-quarter earnings numbers continued to disappoint investors already reeling from a year-long credit crisis.

Companies like Merck (MRK), Boeing (BA) and Wachovia (WB) all made lackluster quarterly announcements that either came in under analysts' estimates or indicated a gloomy future. There were a few bright spots, though. McDonald's (MCD) reported an 11% increase in quarterly profits due to strong global sales. (Its shares traded higher before those gains were erased at the close.) Apple (AAPL) shares rose 4% after the company Tuesday night announced it posted a 25% increase in quarterly earnings because of healthy iPhone sales. That uptick in iPhone sales showed up in AT&T (T) results, too, but while Apple shares gained ground, AT&T's sank as investors frowned on the subsidies it had to pay to the computer maker.

Also influencing trading Wednesday was the strengthening U.S. dollar and a report from the Department of Energy that showed weekly crude inventories increased 3.2 million barrels -- the second straight week inventories have inched up. It appears consumers are spending less at the pump as they try to keep household spending to a minimum. Traders are also worried a global economic slowdown -- evidenced Tuesday by China's slowing GDP -- will curtail demand for the commodity. Oil dropped over $5 per barrel to $67. Crude is now trading at its lowest level since early 2007.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was in the red the entire session, dropping more than 200 points as soon as the opening bell was rung and, once again, falling heavily in the last hour of trading. It eventually closed down 514 points to 8,519.

Winners

The poor reception to AT&T's quarterly earnings played out well for traders short the telecommunications sector. The ProShares UltraShort Telecommunications (TLL) gained 27.3%.

As equities sold off, some fixed-income ETFs posted decent single-day gains. The Vanguard Extended Duration Treasury fund (EDV) climbed 4.3%.

Losers

The surprising and deep selloff in oil made for a tough session for natural resource ETFs. While oil dropped around 7% Wednesday, funds that focus on energy were down almost double that amount in some cases. Indeed, SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services (XES), an ETF that owns companies like Baker Hughes (BHI)), Schlumberger (SLB) and Halliburton (HAL), dropped 15.6%. The SPDR S&P Metals & Mining fund (XME) slid 18.3%.

Thursday's Notebook

Earnings & Conference Calls

AirTran, Alaska Airlines, Baldor Electric, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Bunge, Celgene, Coca-Cola, Deluxe Corp., Ecolab, Eli Lilly, EnCana, Flextronics, Janus, JetBlue, L-3 Communications, MEMC Electronic Materials, Microsoft, NCR, Provident, Shaw Communications, Snap-On, Southern, Starwood, The Dow Chemical Corp., The New York Times, UPS

Economic Data

8:30a.m. Initial Jobless Claims
10:00a.m. Business Barometer

Quick Take

A look at how the industry's most popular ETFs did on Wednesday.