US stocks slip; real estate falls and banks climb

NEW YORK (AP) - After a brief rally, U.S. stocks are again turning mostly lower Wednesday afternoon as real estate companies skid. Apple is sliding after its latest results failed to impress investors, pulling technology stocks down with it. Health care stocks are falling while banks and industrial companies inch higher.

KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average added 46 points, or 0.3 percent, to 18,215 as of 3:20 p.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 3 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,140. The Nasdaq composite shed 31 points, or 0.6 percent, to 5,252.

WATCHING AND WAITING: Stocks haven't made many big moves the last two weeks. "Trading volume has really dropped off," said Scott Wren, a senior global equity strategist at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute. He said investors are being cautious as they wait for the outcome of November's election.

APPLE CORED: Apple sank $3.05, or 2.6 percent, to $115.20 after it reported another drop in iPhone sales. Apple gets about two-thirds of its revenue from iPhone sales and some investors are concerned it depends too much on its marquee product. The company expects sales to start growing again in the holiday season after a recent slump.

The losses for Apple, by far the biggest company in the S&P 500, along with Alphabet and Intel, sent tech stocks lower. That canceled out big jumps in Akamai Technologies and Juniper Networks, which each surged more than 10 percent after strong results.

MALLS MAULED: Simon Property Group, which owns more than 100 shopping malls around the country, slumped after analysts worried about its performance, including lower income from stores that have been open for more than a year. That counteracted solid earnings, and its stock fell $8.51, or 4.3 percent, to $188.76.

Office space company Boston Properties lost $2.61, or 2.1 percent, to $122.72 after investors were disappointed by its forecasts.

CATCHING A CHILL: Drugmaker Merck gave up its gains from the day before and fell $1.19, or 1.9 percent, to $60.76. Medical device maker Edwards Lifesciences reported disappointing sales of heart devices and forecast another shortfall in the current quarter, and its stock slid $17.99, or 15.8 percent, to $95.70. Medical lab operator Laboratory Corp. of America sank $14.17, or 10.2 percent, to $124.24 following a disappointing report.

THE QUOTE: Wren said investors don't care that much if corporate earnings rise or fall this quarter. Earnings have been falling for more than a year but the drops are getting smaller. "All the market wants in terms of earnings is a continuation of a pattern this year of quarter-to-quarter improvement," he said.

BANKS: Financial firms continued to report strong third-quarter results. Regional bank Huntington Bancshares gained 42 cents, or 4.1 percent, to $10.61 and insurer Chubb rose $4.49, or 3.7 percent, to $126.94.

BONDS: Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.79 percent from 1.76 percent.

BOEING GETS GOING: Boeing made its biggest jump since the beginning of 2015. The stock jumped $6.80, or 4.9 percent, to $145.82 after the company raised its forecast for earnings, revenue, and plane deliveries. Boeing is responsible for almost all of the Dow's gains. Other industrial companies like Northrop Grumman and Ingersoll-Rand also climbed.

SNACK ATTACK: Mondelez, the maker of Oreo cookies, Cadbury chocolate and Trident gum, climbed after reporting a bigger profit than analysts expected. The company's stock picked up $1.74, or 4.1 percent, to $44.50.

OIL: The price of oil fell for the third day in a row. U.S. crude fell 78 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $49.18 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 81 cents, to 1.6 percent, to $49.98 a barrel in London.

CHIPOTLE GETS GRILLED: Mexican food chain Chipotle continued to struggle in its efforts to win back customers after food safety scares that started last year. Its sales fell for the fourth quarter in a row and were worse than analysts expected. The stock lost $38.67, or 9.5 percent, to $367, its lowest price in three years.

FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS: Southwest Airlines gave a weak revenue forecast for the rest of the year. Ticket prices have been falling for two years and Southwest said prices are still "soft" while its spending grew. The stock lost $3.53, or 8.4 percent, to $38.42. Other airlines including American and United also traded lower.

MYLAN MISERY: Drugmaker Mylan fell after investors learned that an allergy injection that competes with Mylan's EpiPen shot will go back on sale in 2017. Kaleo Pharmaceuticals' Auvi-Q was taken off the market last year because of the potential for inaccurate dosing, and EpiPen hasn't had direct competition since then.

Over the last few months Mylan has come under fire for repeatedly raising the price of EpiPen over the last decade and for overcharging the government for the shot. Mylan stock lost 79 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $37.89 and it's down 22 percent since mid-August.

OTHER ENERGY TRADING: Wholesale gasoline slid 2 cents to $1.48 a gallon. Heating oil lost 1 cent to $1.55 a gallon. Natural gas fell 4 cents to $2.73 per 1,000 cubic feet.

METALS: Gold fell $7 to $1,266.60 an ounce. Silver lost 15 cents to $17.63 an ounce. Copper was little changed at $2.15 a pound.

CURRENCIES: The dollar inched up to 104.54 yen from 104.22 yen. The euro rose to $1.0906 from $1.0892.

OVERSEAS: The FTSE 100 of Britain dropped 0.8 percent while Germany's DAX lost 0.4 percent and the CAC 40 in France gave up 0.1 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 edged 0.2 percent higher, but Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1 percent and South Korea's Kospi lost 1.1 percent.

___

AP Markets Writer Marley Jay can be reached at http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/marley-jay