* Investors fret about recession, profit outlook
* Energy shares lead sell-off after Monday's surge
* 3M's stock jump offsets caution about economy
* Dow off 0.4 pct, S&P 500 off 0.9 pct, Nasdaq off 1.7 pct
(Updates to afternoon)
By Kristina Cooke
NEW YORK, Oct 21 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday,
hurt by a pullback in commodity shares on fears the global
economy is spiraling into recession and after a rash of
companies released disappointing earnings and outlooks.
Energy companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp <XOM.N>, as
well as miners, weighed on the broader market. By
mid-afternoon, though, all three major U.S. stock indexes had
cut the session's losses sharply, although they still remained
lower.
A sharp drop in Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold's <FCX.N>
profit as well as a broad slide in commodity prices sparked
selling in commodity-related shares, a day after their advance
helped propel the market to a sharply higher finish.
Adding to the sour mood, tech bellwether Texas Instruments
Inc <TXN.N> warned of slowing sales for its widely used analog
chips, while chemical company DuPont Co <DD.N> cut its
full-year forecast.
"It's a foregone conclusion that the economy is slowing
and that companies are going to be issuing downbeat
forecasts," said Richard Sparks, senior equities analyst at
Schaeffer's Investment Research in Cincinnati, Ohio.
"Also, commodities was a heavily invested area when oil
was reaching new highs so we are seeing some unwinding of
those positions still."
The Dow Jones industrial average <> declined 36.00
points, or 0.40 percent, to 9,229.43, off its session low of
9,004.27. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> shed 8.33
points, or 0.85 percent, to 977.07, while the Nasdaq Composite
Index <> was down 29.23 points, or 1.65 percent, at
1,740.80.
Caterpillar Inc <CAT.N>, a maker of excavators and
bulldozers, also missed profit expectations, sending its stock
down 3.6 percent to $39.44.
Freeport, the world's largest publicly traded copper
producer, said quarterly profit fell by a third and would
curtail planned mine expansions because of weaker metals
prices and current economic conditions.
Shares of Freeport-McMoRan dropped 5.8 percent to $34.59,
while the American Stock Exchange's Gold BUGS index <.HUI>
slid 5.7 percent. U.S. front-month crude <CLc1> fell $3.00, or
4 percent, to $71.25 a barrel.
Texas Instruments shed 5.7 percent to $16.95 on the NYSE,
while shares of Dow component DuPont slid 6 percent to
$33.99.
The gloomy corporate news underscored the severity of the
fallout from the U.S. housing slump and the impact of the
prolonged global credit crisis.
Even though there were further signs of a thawing of
credit markets on Tuesday, investors feared the logjam has
probably done damage to U.S. and world economic prospects.
On Nasdaq, shares of Apple Inc <AAPL.O> were a top drag,
down 4.4 percent at $94.09. The maker of the iPod and the
iPhone is due to post quarterly results after the market's
close on Tuesday.
Bucking the trend, diversified manufacturer 3M Co's
<MMM.N> shares climbed 6.1 percent to $61.04 after the company
posted a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit.
(Editing by James Dalgleish)
