Wall Street: Market follows Apple's fall

Stocks on Wall Street dropped sharply near the end of a session in which a gloomy assessment of the US economy added to a slump in technology shares.

Apple's earnings fell short of forecasts, sparking a session-long decline in the tech sector.

Blue chips, led by financials, resisted the slide until mid-afternnon, when the broader market was hit by the release of a downbeat US Federal Reserve "beige book" report on domestic economic activity.

At the close (9am NZ time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 72.43 points, or 0.6%, at 11,504.62. The S&P 500 index lost 1.3%, to 1209.89, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 2.0%, to 2604.04.

Apple shares slumped 5.6% after finishing at an all-time high on Tuesday. Fourth-quarter earnings and revenue showed sales of iPhones had disappointed. The outlook for the fiscal first quarter, however, was above Wall Street forecasts.

Other tech names were weak, too. Hewlett-Packard lost 2.5%, and Cisco Systems fell 2%.

However, Intel rallied 3.6% after reporting third-quarter results that exceeded estimates and provided an upbeat fourth-quarter revenue outlook.

Other markets: Europe, Asia up
European markets advanced as continued optimism that an agreement will be reached to expand the euro-zone's bailout fund overshadowed a two-notch downgrade of Spain's credit rating by Moody's Investors Service.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index was up 0.6% at 236.71. London's FTSE 100 was up 0.7% at 5450.49, Frankfurt's DAX was 0.6% higher at 5913.53 and Paris' CAC-40 was 0.5% higher at 3157.34.

Asian markets also finished mostly higher. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average added 0.4% in choppy trade to 8772.54, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.6% to 4213.7 and Korea's Kospi rose 0.9% to 1855.92.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 1.3% 18,309.22 and India's Sensex rose 2% to 17,085.34. The Shanghai Composite, though, slipped 0.3% to 2377.51.

Commodities: Oil steady, gold up
Crude-oil futures were flat at below $US89 a barrel. Light, sweet crude for November delivery is down 19USc, or 0.2%, at $US88.15 a barrel in New York. The contract expires on Thursday.

Gold futures edged higher as a weaker US dollar drew some buying. The contract for October delivery is up $US2.70, or 0.2%, at $US1654.40 an ounce in New York.

Currencies: Euro strengthens
The euro rose in uneven trading as cautious optimism over a European bailout deal this weekend gave way to mounting scepticism.

France and Germany are locked in intensive negotiations on whether investors in Greece's nearly $US500 billion stack of distressed debt will be asked to take a significantly larger write-down on their holdings. European leaders are also mulling a range of options on how to buttress the European Financial Stability Facility.

The euro was at $US1.3785, compared with $US1.3752 late on Tuesday.

The US dollar was at ¥76.79 compared with ¥76.81, while the euro was at ¥105.76 compared with ¥105.66.

The UK pound traded at $US1.5800 from $US1.5712, while the dollar bought 0.9020 Swiss franc from 0.8985 franc.