NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks fell Wednesday, with modest early losses widening when investors received news that a small plane crashed into an apartment building in New York City.

The Dow Jones industrial average (down 15.04 to 11,852.13, Charts) ended down more than 0.1 percent. Right after the incident, the Dow tumbled 0.5 percent.

The broader S&P 500 (down 3.47 to 1,349.95, Charts) index and the tech-fueled Nasdaq composite (down 7.16 to 2,308.27, Charts) fell about 0.3 percent.

A small airplane crashed into a 50-story residential building, killing at least two people, authorities said Wednesday. The Federal Aviation Administration described the plane as a small fixed-wing aircraft flying under visual flight rules. (Developing story.)

Mark Mershon, head of the FBI office in New York City, told CNN there are "no indications of terrorism." A senior U.S. official in Washington said President Bush was notified, and the administration was monitoring the situation.

Before the incident, stocks were slightly lower as disappointing earnings reports worried investors. Minutes from the Federal Reserve's September policy meeting showing officials remain "concerned" about inflation had little effect on stocks.

On Tuesday, the Dow hit a record close, ending at 11,867.17, its fourth record in little more than a week.

Stocks had rallied for five of the last six sessions after a surprisingly strong third quarter for the market - typically the weakest of the year for Wall Street. But the gains were modest as investors expressed caution at the start of another earnings reporting period.

"Alcoa's earnings yesterday set the tone for trading today, causing traders to be little on the nervous side" said Fred Dickson, chief market analyst at D.A. Davidson & Co. "The tragedy in New York just heightened investor tension momentarily until some of the details developed and were sorted out."

Investors will be more cautious going forward, Dickson said. Earnings reports from Costco (Charts) and PepsiCo (Charts) will be released Thursday morning while Dow component GE (Charts) is scheduled to report Friday. The next three weeks will see most of the S&P 500 report results for the quarter.

In addition, investors will also be paying close attention to September's retail sales report, also due out Friday.

In earnings news, Dow component Alcoa (Charts) said its third-quarter profit almost doubled as revenue increased. But results came in below estimates, sending shares of the aluminum maker 5 percent lower. Rival Alcan (Charts) also fell more than 2 percent.

Gannett (down $1.49 to $56.23, Charts) shares sank 2.5 percent after the newspaper publisher reported a 12 percent decline in third-quarter earnings.

And shares of Genentech (Charts) fell 1.5 percent after the world's No. 2 biotechnology company reported higher third-quarter profit but lower sales of certain cancer drugs.

CNET Networks (down $0.76 to $9.14, Charts) tumbled 7 percent after the company said Shelby Bonnie resigned as CEO after a special committee blamed him for backdating of stock options.

In related news, McAfee (up $0.85 to $26.64, Charts) stock jumped close to 3 percent after the security software firm said its chairman and CEO George Samenuk would step down following an internal probe into the company's stock options practices and that it had terminated Kevin Weiss as president.

And two high-profile directors at Apple (down $0.58 to $73.23, Charts) may have also had a conflict of interest when they conducted a investigation into the company's backdated stock options grants, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

In other news, shares of Bank of America (down $0.59 to $54.04, Charts) fell 1 percent after the nation's No. 2 bank said it will offer free online trades to customers with at least $25,000 in deposits or other accounts.

And a published report said private equity firms Apollo Management and Texas Pacific Group have raised their bid for the world's largest casino operator Harrah's Entertainment (down $0.05 to $76.34, Charts) to more than $15.5 billion.

Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers beat winners by 10 to seven on volume of 1.5 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners edged out advancers by three to two on volume of 2 billion shares.

On the economic front, Fed policy-makers remained "quite concerned" about inflation risks when they met in September, but decided to keep rates on hold for a second straight time, minutes from the Sept. 20 Federal Open Market Committee meeting released showed. (Full story.)

Treasury prices turned lower after the minutes were released, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 4.78 percent from 4.76 percent late Tuesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The dollar edged higher against the euro and yen.

Oil prices lost 93 cents to $57.59, a fresh 2006 low, after an OPEC minister said the oil cartel will soon announce a formal decision to cut 1 million barrels a day of production. (More on OPEC's gamble).

COMEX gold for December delivery added 30 cents to $576.50 an ounce.

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