The earningsreports of Microsoft and Apple were not big market movers, but most of the large companies beat expectations, including big industrial and material names like Boeing , Dow Chemical, General Dynamics, Norfolk Southern, and Ryder.
But what about Whirlpool? They not only missed profit and revenue expectations by a wide margin, they also cut their full year forecast (they said it was partly due to customer inventory transitions in China) to levels below Wall Street's current estimates. Gross margins were also below expectations.
Ouch!