Earnings

Apple's stock sank 5.6% in midday trading on Wednesday following a report from a key supplier that indicated sales could be slowing. On Tuesday, Cirrus Logic, which supplies audio chips for iPhones and iPads, said sales of one of its chips was slipping . That led investors and some analysts to infer that Apple sales were also sliding, spooking shareholders one week before the company is scheduled to report earnings.   TIMELINE: Following Apple in 2012 Apple's stock fell 5.6% or $23.89 to $402.35 just after 12:30 p.m. EDT. Apple stock has not closed below $400 since late 2011.

Apple, already facing low expectations for its third-quarter earnings, reported disappointing results that caused shares to plunge in after-hours trading. The technology giant said profit rose 21% to $8.8 billion, or $9.32 per share, on revenue of $35 billion, up 22% from a year earlier. The results were less than what analysts had expected. Shares plummeted in after-hours trading, falling $34, or nearly 6%, to $566.78. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had estimated that Apple would post earnings per share of $10.36 on revenue of $37.2 billion.

NEW YORK -- Investors continued a broad sell-off midway through the trading day as blue-chip companies reported disappointing earnings and offered dimmer outlooks for global growth. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 226 points, or 1.7%, to 13,120, a level not seen since early September. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 21 points, 1.4%, to 1,413. The Nasdaq was off 17 points, or 0.6%, to 3,000. Among major comapnies to report weak third-quarter earnings was chemical giant DuPont Co. The company's profit fell to $10 million, or 1 cent a share, down from $452 million, or 48 cents,  from the same period a year ago. DuPont's stock lost $4.34, or nearly 9%, to $45.42, dragging the Dow lower.

In nearly all jobs, earnings increase with age. This is probably more pronounced the higher the educational requirements are for the job. White workers are on average considerably older than Asian or Latino workers in California. I suspect that this might explain, at least partly, why individuals from the latter minorities earn less than whites of the same educational level. This possible effect can be taken into account by calculating "age-adjusted" earnings for each racial group at each educational level.

We all know there are plenty of perfectly legal ways to finesse the U.S. tax system. And any company that puts its mind to it can seriously reduce its obligations to Uncle Sam. So it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that Apple, the world's most valuable company, paid an income tax rate of only 1.9% on its earnings outside the country in its latest fiscal year, according to a regulatory filing . Apple paid $713 million in tax on foreign...

Google shares jumped almost 5% in after-hours trading Tuesday after the Internet search giant said its fourth-quarter earnings rose 7% as advertisers increased spending during the holiday shopping season. The results were slightly above analysts' expectations. “The stock is getting a little love,” BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis said. “It's not exceptional but it's better than expected. " Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Youssef Squali said the results "bode well for the stock short-term in our view.

Markets have replaced big gains with little change. Stocks entered a period of relative calm in recent weeks as a powerful spring rally born of optimism about the economy's revival began to sputter. With the second quarter wrapping up Tuesday and earnings reports looming next month, there appears to be little coming up in this holiday-shortened week that could exert a strong pull on the market one way or the other.