Rally collapses after Dow, S&P 500 hit 2012 highs

Updated: 7:57 p.m. ET

Stocks opened higher today, with the Dow Jones industrials ($INDU) and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX) hitting new highs for the year.

And then the rally unraveled. Part of the decline was due to a slump in shares of Apple (AAPL), which fell $9.09 to $656.06 after hitting a new intraday high of $674.88.

But profit-taking also appeared to be at work. The Dow and S&P 500 have both gained about 10% since early June, and a number of technical indicators suggested the market was getting pricey. In addition, hopes for more stimulus moves from the Federal Reserve took a blow when Dennis Lockhart, president of the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank, said he wasn't sure the economy needed more stimulus.

After hours, Dell (DELL) shares were off nearly 4.5% to $11.79 from a regular close of $12.34 after the company issued weaker-than-expected​ guidance for its fiscal third quarter. Second-quarter earnings beat estimates, but revenue was lower than expected.

The Dow closed down 68 points to 13,204. The loss came after the index had risen as many as 59 points -- well above its 2012 high of 13,279, set May 1. The S&P 500 dropped 5 points to 1,413. It had been up as many as 9 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPX) was down 9 points to 3,067.

Article continues below. The Nasdaq-100 Index ($NDX) was off 12 points to 2,772. Apple, which represents about 17% of the market capitalization of the stocks in the index, was the catalyst for the pullback.

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Chico's FAS (CHS), BHP Billiton (BHP), Krispy Kreme Donuts (KKD) and home builder Toll Bros. (TOL) are among the key earnings reports due Wednesday.

The Federal Open Market Committee releases minutes of its July 31-Aug. 1 meeting.  Also due: reports on oil inventories and existing-home sales.

A tough quarter for Dell
Dell said it earned 50 cents a share after one-time charges, down from 54 cents a year ago. Revenue was off 8% to $14.48 billion. The company said revenue from its enterprise solutions and services businesses grew 6% to $4.9 billion -- which is what Dell expects to be its core business going forward.

But the classic personal computer business was weak. Its consumer business was hit hard by the shift to mobile and tablet devices. Revenue was off 22% to $2.6 billion.

Dell expects decent business in the enterprise, services and software businesses. But it also sees "a challenging end-user computer environment" over the next two quarters. Revenue will fall 2% to 5% from second-quarter levels. Dell and Wall Street had expected quarter-to-quarter growth. It cuts its earnings estimate for the year to $1.70 a share, maybe more. Wall Street has been expecting $1.91.

Dell saw revenue declines around the world, but the worst came from Brazil, Russia, India and China (off 15% from a year ago); Asia Pacific and Japan (off 12%) and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (down 7%). Revenue in the Americas was off 6%.

Dell's report weighed on Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), which reports after Wednesday's close. Shares were off 16 cents to $19.93 in regular trading and off an additional 36 cents to $19.57 after hours.

Microsoft (MSFT) was off 12 cents to $30.68 after hours. Intel (INTC) fell 12 cents to $26.11.

Energy prices -- New York close
			Tues.			Mon.			Month chg.			YTD chg.
Crude oil (-CL)			$96.68			$95.97			9.79%			-2.18%
(per barrel)
Heating oil (-HO)			$3.1334			$3.0931			10.02%			7.52%
(per gallon)
Natural gas (-NG)			$2.7930			$2.7760			-12.96%			-6.56%
(per mil. BTU)
Unleaded gasoline (-RB)			$3.0730			$3.0308			10.77%			15.64%
(per gallon)
Brent crude			$114.70			$113.70			9.32%			6.82%
(per barrel)
Retail gasoline			$3.7170			$3.7200			6.20%			13.46%
(per gallon; AAA)

Oil, gold and silver rise as the dollar drops
Commodity prices moved higher in large part because the dollar was lower against the euro. Also, oil and precious metals prices moved higher and speculators pondered the possible effects of an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Crude oil (-CL) pushed above $97 a barrel in the morning but settled at $96.68 a barrel, up 71 cents. Brent crude was up 93 cents to $114.63 a barrel. The national average price of gasoline fell slightly to $3.717 a gallon from Monday's $3.72, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

Gold (-GC) settled up $19.90 to $1,642.90 an ounce. Silver (-SI) jumped 83.5 cents, or 2.9%, to $29.43 an ounce. Copper (-HG) added 8.2 cents, or 2.4%, to $3.453 a pound.

Interest rates were higher, with the 10-year Treasury yield hitting 1.828% from 1.814% on Monday. The 30-year Treasury bond yield was up to 2.937% from 2.927% on Monday.

Best Buy results were expected to be bad -- and were
Best Buy (BBY) shares fell 25 cents to $17.91 after earnings missed Street estimates and concern grew that new CEO Hubert Joly lacked experience with the current retailing environment.

Best Buy reported results that trailed estimates and suspended its earnings forecast as sales of computers and televisions dropped. Same-store sales fell 1.6% from a year ago, with international sales off 8.2%.

The company suspended its share buyback program and said it will no longer issue guidance.

There was some good news, though: The shares hit a 52-week low of $16.25 just after the open but then rebounded.

Barnes & Noble (BKS) dropped 48 cents to $11.87 because of weakness in its college-textbook business.

But apparel retailer Urban Outfitters (URBN) was up sharply after fiscal-second-quarte​r results, issued late Monday, were surprisingly strong. Shares were up $5.70 to $36.98, tops among stocks in the S&P 500.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX) rose $1.13 to $36.49 as metals prices moved higher.

An early investor in Facebook cashes out
Facebook shares were down 85 cents to $19.16 after trading as low as $18.75 on Monday. The stock was buffeted by news that Peter Thiel, a Facebook director, had sold 20 million shares in the company.

The sale, which realized $395.8 million, had been planned before Facebook went public on May 18, but the news didn't cheer anyone, except maybe Thiel, a hedge-fund manager and co-founder of PayPal, now part of eBay (EBAY).

Thiel was the first outside investor in Facebook, buying a more than 10% stake in 2004 for $500,000.

JPMorgan and Cisco top the Dow
Only nine of the 30 Dow stocks were higher, led by JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Cisco Systems (CSCO), still basking in the glow of a decent earnings report. Verizon Communications (VZ) and Merck (MRK) were the laggards.

At the same time, 172 S&P 500 stocks were higher, led by Urban Outfitters, solar-panel-maker First Solar (FSLR) and coal-producer Alpha Natural Resources (ANR). Limited Brands (LTD) and Phillips 66 (CLF) were the laggards.

And 43 Nasdaq-100 stocks were higher, led by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) and Netflix (NFLX). Chinese web portal Baidu (BIDU) and Research In Motion (RIMM) were the laggards.

Short hits from the markets -- New York close
			Tues.			Mon.			Month chg.			YTD chg.
Treasury yields
13-week Treasury bill			0.1000%			0.090%			0.00%			900.00%
5-year Treasury note			0.792%			0.792%			32.22%			-4.58%
10-year Treasury note			1.805%			1.814%			20.98%			-3.53%
30-year Treasury bond			2.909%			2.927%			12.88%			0.69%
Currencies
U.S. Dollar Index			81.92			82.500			-0.96%			1.74%
British pound			1.5783			1.5716			0.65%			1.58%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. $ in pounds			£0.634			£0.636			-0.64%			-1.55%
Euro in dollars			$1.25			$1.24			1.37%			-3.77%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. $ in euros			€ 0.802			€ 0.810			-1.35%			3.91%
U.S. $ in yen			79.55			79.48			1.84%			3.18%
U.S. $ in Chinese			6.38			6.36			0.34%			0.85%
yuan
Canada dollar			$1.015			$1.012			1.84%			3.50%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. dollar			$0.986			$0.988			-1.73%			-3.38%
(in Canadian $)
Commodities
Gold (-GC)			$1,640.90			$1,623.00			1.89%			4.73%
(per troy ounce)
Copper (-HG)			$3.453			$3.371			1.04%			0.49%
(per pound)
Silver (-SI)			$29.4280			$28.5930			5.42%			5.42%
(per troy ounce)
Wheat (-ZW)			$9.0275			$9.0275			1.63%			38.30%
(per bushel)
Corn (-ZC)			$8.2375			$8.238			2.30%			27.42%
(per bushel)
Cotton			$0.7730			0.7483			8.35%			-15.68%
(per pound)
Coffee			$1.6420			1.6455			-5.85%			-28.50%
(per pound)
Crude oil (-CL)			$96.68			$95.97			9.79%			-2.18%
(per barrel)