US stocks fell on Tuesday with the Dow and the S&P 500 index logging their biggest percentage declines in nearly a month amid corporate profit concerns related to the impact of Hurricane Katrina, high oil prices and lackluster consumer spending.
Procter & Gamble Co was the top decliner in the blue chip Dow, falling 1.8 percent to $55.54, after analysts at Bear Stearns cut their quarterly earnings estimate for P&G by 2 cents a share due to Hurricane Katrina's impact on the consumer products company's coffee business in the Gulf Coast.
Electronics retailer Best Buy Co Inc slumped 11 percent to $44.79, its biggest one-day drop since 2002, after it reported second-quarter earnings that missed Wall Street expectations and a forecast that lagged market expectations.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 85.50 points, or 0.80 percent, at 10,597.44. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 9.36 points, or 0.75 percent, to 1,231.20. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index was down 11.08 points, or 0.51 percent, at 2,171.75.
US gasoline futures ended higher for the first time in three sessions on Tuesday on forecasts that inventories fell last week in the wake of refinery shutdowns caused by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast.
NYMEX gasoline for October delivery last traded up 2.13 cents at $1.895 a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"There is so much uncertainty with energy prices, and that is why we are caught in a tight trading range here. Over the next few months you will see how Hurricane Katrina will benefit or hurt the market, and there is a wait-and-see attitude among investors," said Brad Pleimann, head of equity position trading at Piper Jaffray.
"The consumer has been fuel for this market for a long time now and with energy prices and all the other question marks out there now, investors will be watching earnings and guidance very closely," Pleimann added.
Best Buy was one of the top losers on the S&P 500 index and weighed on rivals Circuit City Stores Inc, which fell 2.7 percent to $16.46, and RadioShack Corp, down 2 percent to $25.68.
Northwest Airlines tumbled 52.6 percent to $1.57 following a New York Times online report that the No 4 US carrier could file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as early as Wednesday.
Delta Air Lines, which has also been the object of speculation that it was close to filing for Chapter 11, dropped 8.2 percent to a 52-week low of 78 cents.
In earnings news, newspaper publisher Knight Ridder Inc warned that its earnings would suffer, partly due to Hurricane Katrina. Knight Ridder fell 5.3 percent to $61.46.
West Marine Inc dropped 11 percent to $16.04 after the boating supplies retailer also cut its outlook, noting that the storm destroyed four of its stores and damaged nine others.
Drug maker Pfizer Inc fell 1.4 percent to $25.98 and was a drag on the S&P. The company said the US Food and Drug Administration failed to approve its osteoporosis drug, Oporia.
Finnish mobile-phone maker Nokia raised its quarterly sales and profit forecasts. Shares of Qualcomm Inc, a wireless technology company, were lifted by the Nokia news and was the top gainer on the Nasdaq.
Nokia's US rival Motorola Inc rose 2.7 percent to $23.45 and Texas Instruments Inc, a maker of semiconductors used in mobile phones, was up 2.6 percent at $33.96. Before the market opened, the Labour Department reported that the producer price index rose a lower-than-expected 0.6 percent in August.
About 1.49 billion shares changed hands on the NYSE, above last year's daily average of 1.46 billion, while on Nasdaq, about 1.74 billion shares traded, below last year's daily average of 1.81 billion.
Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones by a ratio of about 2-to-1 on both the NYSE and the Nasdaq.
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