Stocks Opened Lower as Apple, Oil Slumped

U.S. stocks opened lower on Wednesday, as a steep drop in Apple Inc. shares following disappointing results weighed on main indexes and a further drop by oil futures to below $50 a barrel also put pressure on energy shares. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately dropped 83.55 points, or 0.46%, to 18,085.72. The S&P 500 fell 10.13 points, or 0.47%, to 2,133.03. The Nasdaq Composite was down 33.95 points, or 0.64%, to 5,249.45.

For its fiscal fourth quarter, ended Sept. 24, Apple reported its third consecutive decline in revenue and profit. Net income fell 19% to $9 billion, or $1.67 a share, from $11.1 billion, or $1.96 a share, in the same period a year earlier. Revenue fell 9%, to $46.9 billion.

Oil futures dropped in electronic trading Tuesday after the American Petroleum Institute reported a 4.8 million-barrel climb in U.S. crude supplies for the week ended Oct. 21. December crude was at $49.42 a barrel, down from the contract’s settlement of $49.94 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Boeing Co. (BA) beat third-quarter profit and sales expectations, and raised its outlook. Earnings rose to $2.3 billion, or $3.60 a share, from $1.7 billion, or $2.47 a share, in the same period a year ago. Revenue fell 8% to $23.9 billion from $25.8 billion.

Southwest Airlines Co. says third-quarter profit fell 34 percent on falling fares and higher costs, and the company gave a weak revenue forecast for the rest of the year. It earned $388 million in the third quarter, down from $584 million a year ago. Revenue dropped more than 3 percent to $5.14 billion.

Comcast Corp. reported better-than-expected financial results and added video customers in the third quarter.Total quarterly profit rose to $2.2 billion, or 92 cents a share, up from $2 billion, or 80 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue grew 14% to $21.3 billion.

Coca-Cola’s profit fell 28 percent in the third quarter, but its results still beat Wall Street expectations. The company reported net income of $1.05 billion, or 24 cents per share, in the three months ending Sept. 30, compared with $1.45 billion, or 33 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.Revenue fell 7 percent to $10.63 billion.

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