US markets close mixed

The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average slid off a record closing high Wednesday after Caterpillar Inc. reported an earnings drop. The heavy equipment giant said earnings fell 43 percent to $1.45 per share in the second quarter. Revenues fell 16 percent to $14.6 billion in the quarter, Caterpillar said. The DJIA, which topped 15,600 for the first time in mid-day trading Tuesday, gave up 25.50 points or 0.16 percent to 15,542.24. Caterpillar lead decliners on the index, falling 2.7 percent. Hewlett-Packard lead gainers, closing up 1.46 percent. The Standard & Poor\'s 500 lost 6.45 points or 0.38 percent to 1,685.94. The Nasdaq composite index added 0.33 points or 0.01 percent to close at 3,579.60. On the New York Stock Exchange 752 issues advanced, while 2,322 declined on volume of 3.3 billion shares. The 10-year treasury note fell 20/32 to yield 2.585 percent. Japan\'s Nikkei index shed 0.32 percent or 47.23 points to 14,731.28. In Britain, the FTSE 100 index added 0.35 percent or 22.99 points to 6,620.43. In after-hours trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil was off $1.99 or 1.86 percent to $105.24 a barrel. Gold gave up $14.30 or 1.07 percent to close at $1,320.90 per troy ounce on the NYMEX Comex division while silver lost 11.9 cents to close at $20.155. On currency markets, the euro was higher at $1.3204. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 100.29 yen. On the Chicago Board of Trade, December corn was off 5 1/2 to $4.80, November soybeans were off 4 3/4 to settle at $12.55 1/2 and September wheat was off 1 3/4 to $6.52.