(By Balachander) U.S. stocks ended sharply lower as fresh worries over Spain's debt woes and a slew of mixed corporate earnings reports dented sentiment.
S&P 500 Index fell 1.01 percent to close at 1,362.66. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.93 percent to end at 12,822.57. The Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 1.37 percent to finish at 2,925.30.
With no major domestic economic data scheduled for the day, investors weighed developments in Europe against a set of earnings news, including Microsoft, General Electric and Google Inc.
In European news, the yield on Spain's 10-year government bonds rose above the 7 percent level at which Greece and Portugal were forced to seek bailouts. Spain's Valencia region has reportedly sought help from the government for financial aid even as Eurozone finance ministers approved a proposed 100 billion euro bailout deal to recapitalize Spain's troubled banks.
Hot Stocks Of The Day: MSFT, GE, GOOG, AMD, SNDK, CMG, ONXX, CPHD, FSL
In corporate news, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) dropped 1.79 percent after the world's largest software company posted a quarterly loss - its first-ever as a public company - as it took a $6.2 billion noncash goodwill impairment charge related to the acquisition of aQuantive Inc.
General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE) inched higher after the industrial conglomerate reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings. The company said it is on track for double-digit profit growth at its Industrial and GE Capital segments this year.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) added 2.99 percent after the search engine giant reported a 11.2 percent increase in quarterly earnings on a 35 percent revenue jump.
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE:CMG) tumbled 21.51 percent after the Denver, Colorado-based operator of food restaurants posted lower than expected revenue for the second quarter amid slower customer traffic growth.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE:AMD) shed 13.17 percent after the chipmaker reported a decline quarterly earnings and revenue, citing softer desktop channel sales in China and Europe as well as a weaker consumer spending environment.
Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ONXX) jumped 11.67 percent after Kyprolis, the company's new blood cancer drug, won approval from the U.S. health regulators to treat patients who have received at least two prior therapies.
SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ:SNDK) soared 10.32 percent after the maker of NAND flash memory storage devices posted quarterly results that topped Wall Street projections.
Cepheid (NASDAQ:CPHD) plunged 17.65 percent after the California-based molecular diagnostics company posted a 38 percent drop in quarterly earnings as revenue growth was offset by an increase in costs.
Freescale Semiconductor Ltd. (NYSE:FSL) slumped 6.46 percent after the Austin, Texas-based provider of embedded processors guided sales for the third quarter below market expectations.
Kayak Software (NASDAQ:KYAK) and Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NYSE:PANW) soared 28.77 percent and 26.5 percent, respectively, on their public debut.
Global Markets:
European markets ended sharply lower, with Germany's DAX down 1.90 percent to close at 6,630.02. France's CAC40 declined 2.14 percent to finish at 3,193.89. U.K.'s FTSE 100 lost 1.09 percent to end at 5,651.77.
Asian markets closed mixed, with China's Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index falling 0.74 percent to finish at 2,168.64. Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 1.43 percent to end at 8,669.87. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.42 percent to end at 19,640.80. India's BSE Sensex finished at 17,158.44, down 0.70 percent.
Commodity & Currency Scan:
Crude oil futures retreated 1.32 percent to $91.44 per barrel while natural gas futures added 2.90 percent to $3.086 per million metric British thermal units. Gold futures gained 0.16 percent to $1,582.9 per ounce and silver futures inched up 0.21 percent to $27.420 per ounce.
In the currency market, the euro shed 0.96 percent against the U.S. dollar to 1.2163. The British pound lost 0.68 percent against the greenback to 1.5618, while the dollar dropped 0.47 percent against the Japanese yen to 78.4700.