Stocks down sharply amid mixed earnings reports

NEW YORK (AP) -- Investors pushed stocks down Tuesday as they digested news from a flurry of earnings reports from corporate heavyweights.

Disappointing news from Apple Inc. and IBM Corp. pushed the technology-heavy Nasdaq down about 0.8 percent. Both companies beat earnings forecasts when they reported results late Monday, but each delivered news that investors didn't like. Apple Inc. didn't sell as many iPads as analysts had hoped and a measure of profitability was lower than expected. IBM Corp.'s outsourcing business didn't do as well analysts predicted.

Shares of Apple fell almost 2 percent, to $311.80, as traders backed off of a rally that has sent the broad market up 3 percent this quarter. Apple's shares have gained nearly 10 percent in the same timeframe.

"On average, the earnings reports have beaten expectations, but now investors are asking, 'What's next?'," said Jonathan Satovsky, the head of Satovsky Asset Management. "Even Apple reduced guidance for the fourth quarter of the year."

Also weighing on stock prices was an announcement that China raised a key interest rate to slow rising inflation. The market has reacted negatively throughout the year to any moves by China's government that are perceived as an effort to slow down its economy. American companies view China as an important growth market.