Stocks end lower on grim earnings reports from Apple, Microsoft

Technology shares closed lower solidly pulling the three indexes lower after Apple and Microsoft turned in disappointing results.

At the close on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 68.3 points, about 0.4 percent, at 17,851. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was off 5.1 points, about 0.2 percent, at 2,114.2. The Nasdaq composite declined 36.4 points, about 0.7 percent, to 5,171.8.

About the same time, the price of the Sept. 15 contract on U.S. benchmark crude oil was down $1.72 cents to $49.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Apple fell 4.3 percent Wednesday. The company gave a cautious outlook for the current quarter and didn't provide much detail on how its new smartwatch was doing.

Microsoft fell 3.7 percent after booking a huge loss related to its purchase of Finnish phone company, Nokia.

Bond prices didn't move much. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note held steady at 2.33 percent.