The Dow fell 231 points and the Nasdaq Composite shed 4% on Tuesday after a number of major companies reinforced earnings worries by revealing weak results from last quarter and warned of even weaker profits ahead. 

Today's Market

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 231.77 points, or 2.50%, to 9033.66, the broader S&P 500 fell 30.35 points, or 3.08%, to 955.05 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 73.35 points, or 4.14%, to 1696.68. The consumer-friendly FOX 50 dropped 22.44 points, or 3.02%, to 720.71.

The markets fluctuated between steep losses and minor gains throughout the session before ending near the lowest levels of the day. Tuesday's selloff erased nearly half of a 413-point surge on the Dow from a day ago, the eight largest point gain in the index's history. On a percentage basis, Monday's rally was the fourth best one-day gain of the year. 

Earnings worries were most evident in tech stocks, sending the Nasdaq Composite down by more than 4%. Fears that tech companies will struggle to make money amid a potential recession and an ongoing credit crisis were bolstered after a series of companies reported weak forecasts, including Sun Microsystems (JAVA), Logitech (LOGI) and Texas Instruments (TXN). 

There was also significant apprehension ahead of scheduled earnings reports from tech heavyweights Apple (AAPL) and Yahoo! (YHOO), which were slated to reveal results after Tuesday's closing bell.

The earnings reports grew in importance on Tuesday as no new developments on the credit freeze emerged and no major economic reports were released. 

The Dow posted more modest losses than the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 as a number of blue-chip companies managed to top Wall Street's lowered profit expectations: chemicals giant DuPont (DD), financial giant American Express (AXP), drug giant Pfizer (PFE) and 3M (MMM). Another Dow component, construction equipment maker Caterpillar (CAT), narrowly missed expectations.

However, the results from the broader market leaned toward the negative, with most financials widely missing analyst expectations: National City (NCC), Fifth Third Bank (FITB), BlackRock (BLK), U.S. Bancorp (UBS) and Key Corp. (KEY). 

A number of other companies reported disappointing results, including drug maker Schering-Plough (SGP) and Lockheed Martin (LMT). 

Earnings guidance for the current quarter and beyond didn't help the market as a batch of companies warned of trouble. For example, even though Pfizer, AmEx, DuPont and Texas Instruments beat the Street, they all lowered their forecasts due to a weakening economy. 

Meanwhile, crude oil prices gave back their gains from Monday. A barrel of crude ended down $3.36 to $70.89. The energy market has been fluctuating on hopes that OPEC will cut production at an emergency meeting on Friday.

In the currency market, the greenback soared to its highest level against the euro in 19 months on Tuesday. The euro slipped more than 2% to fall as low as $1.3050.

Corporate Movers

Ford's (F) largest shareholder sold 7.3 million shares at an average price of $2.43 a share, sending the auto maker's shares sliding. 

Citigroup (C) was under heavy pressure after Goldman Sachs told investors to sell the financial conglomerate. 

Chrysler LLC is considering joining a manufacturing and development alliance with Japan’s Nissan Motor and France’s Renault, The Wall Street Journal reported. Still, privately-held Chrysler would prefer to sell itself to General Motors (GM), the newspaper reported. 

3M (MMM), the Dow component that makes Post-Its, traded higher after reporting earnings of $1.41 per share. Excludine one-time items, 3M's earnings were $1.42 per share, topping expectations by 4 cents. Sales for the third quarter rose 6.2% to $6.56 billion.

American Express (AXP) was the biggest percentage winner on the Dow after beating estimates with third-quarter earnings of 74 cents per share. However, the credit card giant missed expectations with $7.16 billion in revenue. 

Pfizer (PFE), the world's biggest drugmaker, posted better-than-expected earnings of $2.3 billion, or 34 cents a share. The company's adjusted-earnings of 62 cents a share topped expectations by two cents.

DuPont (DD) exceeded expectations with its third-quarter results but sharply cut its full-year profit view to below analyst's forecasts. The chemicals manufacturer posted an adjusted-profit of 56 cents per share on sales of $7.3 billion. 

Caterpillar (CAT) reported a 6.4% decline in earnings but reaffirmed its 2008 profit forecast. The construction equipment maker earned $1.39 per share, missing expectations by 2 cents. 

United Airlines (UAL) reported a third-quarter loss of $733 million, or $6.13 a share. The airline's adjusted-profit, which excluded a $519 million writedown on fuel hedges, was $1.99 per share. 

Texas Instruments (TXN) plunged to 52-week lows after warning of “significantly” weaker sales in the current quarter.

Global Markets

The Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50, the index that tracks the 50 largest companies in Europe, ended down 14.71 points, or 0.56%, to 2598.97. London's FTSE 100 lost 52.94 points, or 1.24%, to 4229.73. 

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 Index jumped 300.66 points, or 3.34%, to 9306.25. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 281.84 points, or 1.84%, to 15041.17.