Stocks plunge on Caterpillar, Nvidia warnings

Stocks fell on Monday after Dow component Caterpillar missed the fourth-quarter profit estimate.and Nvidia cut its quarterly revenue estimate.

The fact that President Trump was downplaying the chance of Congress coming up with a budget agreement by the Feb. 15 deadline also weighed on markets.

Profits at Caterpillar missed Wall Street estimates for the fourth quarter, results that could reignite fears over a global economic slowdown given the manufacturing firm's immense international operations.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
I:DJI DOW JONES AVERAGES 37775.38 +22.07 +0.06%
SP500 S&P 500 5011.12 -11.09 -0.22%
I:COMP NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX 15601.498878 -81.87 -0.52%

Net income at the Deerfield, Illinois-based company grew to $2.55 per share in the three months through December, less than the $2.99 per share that analysts expected. Revenue rose to $14.3 billion, in-line with Wall Street expectations.

Caterpillar's results are hitting other industrial names like Boeing, which reports on Wednesday, and 3M, which is out with results Tuesday morning.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
CAT CATERPILLAR INC. 357.93 -0.39 -0.11%
BA THE BOEING CO. 170.23 +0.02 +0.01%
MMM 3M CO. 91.48 +0.52 +0.57%
NVDA NVIDIA CORP. 846.71 +6.36 +0.76%

Nvidia cut its fourth-quarter revenue estimate by half a billion dollars due to weak demand for its gaming chips in China and lower-than-expected datacenter sales, sending its shares sliding.

It will be a busy week in the markets as investors keep an eye on a Fed meeting, earnings from 13 Dow stocks and the monthly jobs report.

In Asian markets on Monday, China’s Shanghai Composite closed down 0.2 percent.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed the session nearly flat.

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Japan’s Nikkei  average ended the day down 0.6 percent.

The major European markets started the week lower. London’s FTSE closed lower by 0.9 percent, Germany’s DAX ended the day down 0.6 percent and France’s CAC fell 0.8 percent on the day.