(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)Wall Street edged lower on Tuesday on worries over corporate profits after Pepsico reported lower than expected earnings. A sell off in technology stocks also weighed upon markets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 76.62 points, (-0.82%), to finish at 9,310.99. The S&P 500 shrank 5.34 points (-0.53%) to 998.01. The Nasdaq Composite fell 65.24 points, (-3.54%), to end at 1,779.Technology stocks suffered the most on Tuesday.

The indices had earlier opened in green on Tuesday after financials rallied on US government’s decision to buy stakes in private banks in order to restore investor confidence in the financial system. However, the markets could not sustain the gain and later finished with moderate losses as concerns about economy resurfaced.

Early on Tuesday, US officials announced the details of expanded $700 billion rescue plan. Apart from buying the mortgage related debt off the books of banks, the bailout plan now will also include provisions for the federal authorities to buy stakes in banks. According to reports, the Bush administration plans to spend as much as $250 billion of the $700 billion bailout buying stakes in nine of the biggest U.S. banks. The list of bank includes Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Wells Fargo & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., Merrill Lynch & Co., Morgan Stanley, State Street Corp. and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. The expanded plan would also provide a way for the government to insure loans that banks make to each other. The insurance would be provided temporarily by FDIC, which will also charge banks a premium for the same.

Henry Paulson said on Tuesday, "Our goal is to see a wide array of healthy institutions sell preferred shares to the Treasury, and raise additional private capital, so that they can make more loans to businesses and consumers across the nation".

Soft drink maker PepsiCo's (PEP) third quarter profit missed Wall Street expectations. The company reported on Tuesday that third-quarter earnings were $1.58 billion, or 99 cents a share, compared to $1.74 billion, or $1.06 a share, in the same period a year ago. Revenue rose to $11.2 billion compared to $10.2 billion.

Analysts polled by FactSet Research forecasted, on average, earnings per share of $1.08 on sales of $11.2 billion. PepsiCo also said it plans to eliminate about 3,300 jobs worldwide and sees a pre-tax fourth-quarter charge of about $550 million to $600 million for the restructuring. For the full year of 2008, PepsiCo expects to earn $3.41 to $3.44 a share. Shares of Pepsico Inc. (PEP) slumped $7.37 or 11.93% to $54.40 on Tuesday.
Rival Coca-Cola Co. (KO) declined 7.5% to $43.73.

Ingersoll-Rand Co. (IR) dropped 4.7% after the company lowered its earnings outlook. The company cut its estimate to a range of 98 cents to $1.00 a share from a prior range of $1.05 o $1.10 a share.