US stocks edged lower on Tuesday as investors remained concerned about the gloomy corporate outlooks and mounting corporate layoffs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 242.85 points or 2.72% to finish at 8,691.33. The S&P 500 dropped 21.03 points or 2.31% to 888.67. The Nasdaq Composite shed 24.40 points or 1.55% to 1,547.34.

Among financials, Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) decreased 89 cents or 4.99% to $1.95. J.P Morgan (NYSE: JPM) plunged $2.53 or 6.93% to $33.96. Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) retreated 5.68% and 8.16% respectively.

Shares of General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) were down $1.10 or 5.83% at $17.78.

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) tumbled 23 cents or 4.67% to finish at $4.70. Ford (NYSE: F) declined 15 cents or 4.44% to $3.23.  On Monday, Congressional Democrats sent President George W. Bush a draft proposal for a $15 billion, short-term rescue of U.S. automakers. However, according to reports some of the Republicans are still skeptical about the plan.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) fell $1.75 or 3.04% to $55.81.  Home improvement retailer Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) dropped $1.05 or 4.33% to $23.20.

Supermarket chain Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) lost $1.84 or 6.74% after it said that its third-quarter net income declined 6% to $237.7 million, or 36 cents a share from $253.8 million, or 37 cents per share, a year earlier. Sales increased 9% to $17.6 billion in the period.

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) slipped $2.70 or 4.32% to $59.79.

The FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) plummeted $10.78 or 14.48% to $63.65. The company trimmed its fiscal 2009 earnings forecast in the range of $3.50 to $4.75 a share down from its earlier forecast of $4.75 to $5.25 a share. Analysts were expecting that the company would post earnings of $5.15 a share.

Con-Way Inc. (NYSE: CNW) skidded $3.58 or 13.89% to close at $22.19 after the company cut its 2008 earnings guidance to a range of $2.20 to $2.35 a share from a previous forecast of $2.60 to $2.80 a share.

Danaher Corp. (NYSE: DHR) slumped $2.18 or 4.20% to finish at $49.78 after it lowered its fourth-quarter adjusted-earnings guidance in the range of $1.03 to $1.10 a share from its prior estimates of $1.17 to $1.25 a share. For 2008, the company expects adjusted earnings of $4.15 to $4.22 a share.

Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) rose 73 cents or 4.93% to $15.55. Late on Monday, the chipmaker lowered its fourth quarter earnings guidance to 10 to 16 cents a share, down from the prior forecast in the range of 30 to 36 cents a share. Analysts on average are currently expecting a profit of 31 cents a share, on average. The company expects revenue in the range of $2.3 billion to $2.5 billion, down from its prior expectation of $2.83 billion to $3.07 billion. Analysts are projecting $2.91 billion in revenue.

National Semiconductor Corp.'s (NYSE: NSM) shares rose 13.2%. On Monday the company announced that its second-quarter net income declined to $33.9 million or 14 cents a share, from $90.6 million, or 33 cents, in the same quarter a year ago. Net sales fell to $421.6 million from $499 million.

AutoZone (NYSE: AZO) climbed $8.01 or 6.88% to $124.51 after it announced that its first-quarter profit dropped to $131.4 million $2.23 a share from $132.5 million or $2.02 a share in corresponding quarter of 2007. Revenue increased to $1.48 billion from $1.46 billion in the period.

Sony (NYSE: SNE) announced late on Monday that it cutting 8,000 jobs, or 4% work force globally, which will help it save $1.1 billion annually.

Early on Tuesday, International Air Transport Association (IATA) said that the airline industry's loss is expected to total $5 billion in 2008 and $2.5 billion in 2009.

On the front of economic data, A release by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) showed today that pending U.S. homes sales declined by 0.7% in October. Economists had projected NAR's Pending Home Sales Index to fall by 3% in the month.

A release in Office for National Statistics in London showed UK's Factory output fell 1.4% in October from previous month.

European stocks settled in green. The U.K. FTSE climbed 81.20 points or 1.89% to 4,381.26. The German DAX and French CAC advanced 1.34% and 1.56% respectively.

Asian stocks finished mixed on Tuesday. The Nikkei rose 66.82 points or 0.8% to close at 8,395.87. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 291.65 points or 1.94% to 15,044.87.

NYMEX Crude oil for January declined $1.64, or 3.8%, to settle at $42.07 a barrel.

Disclosure: Author does not own any of the stocks discussed here.