Down day on Wall Street
Stocks slip after the release of minutes from last Federal Reserve policy meeting, AMD's profit warning and a weak pending home sales index.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stock slid Tuesday on AMD's profit warning, Alcoa's weak earnings report and the minutes from the last Fed meeting, which showed the central bankers see the economy getting worse going forward.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) lost 0.3%. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) index lost 0.5%. The Nasdaq composite (COMP) lost 0.7%.
Stocks had fallen through the early afternoon as investors mulled the start of what is expected to be a weak first-quarter earnings reporting period. However, losses deepened shortly after the 2:00 p.m. ET release of the minutes from the March 18 meeting.
The minutes showed that at that meeting - in which the Fed cut short-term interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point - many of the bankers thought the economy was in for a "severe and protracted downturn."
That's a phrase that's "analogous to recession," said Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at Maria Fiorini Ramirez Inc. However, he said it is relevant to note that not all the bankers had that perspective, with the Dallas and Philadelphia Fed Bank presidents voting against cutting rates so aggressively.
Additionally, Fed Chair Ben Bernanke told Congress last week that a recession was possible, although he still expects some growth in the first half of the year. (To read the minutes, click here.)
After the close of trade, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said that "we are in the throes of a recession," something that many market participants already believe.
Wednesday brings the release of the government's weekly oil inventories report and the February wholesale inventories report. Retailer Circuit City (CC, Fortune 500) is due to report results before the start of trade.
Tuesday's market. All three major gauges had already been lower ahead of the minutes. Yet the declines throughout the session were fairly modest, reflecting the recent improved tone in the market over the last few weeks, said Ron Kiddoo, chief investment officer at Cozad Asset Management.
"The market is showing some resilience," Kiddoo said. "We're seeing a continuation of last week, where it seems like there's a willingness to move higher."
He said that this resilience could be helpful in the face of what is expected to be a pretty wretched earnings reporting period. However, that's not to say that stocks won't be vulnerable to bad news.
Stocks were mixed Monday, as news that Washington Mutual could get a multi-billion dollar cash investment was countered by worries at the start of the quarterly earnings reporting period.
First-quarter results for the overall S&P 500 are expected to decline versus a year ago, due largely to a big drop in financial sector results amid the credit and housing market crises.
Also in focus Tuesday: the February pending home sales index, which fell 1.9% versus forecasts for a fall of 1%. The index of homes under contract to sell rose a revised 0.3% in January.
Company news. Washington Mutual (WM, Fortune 500) said it has secured $7 billion from private equity firm TPG Capital Investment. The hard-hit mortgage lender also said that it will see a $1.1 billion loss in the first quarter and cut its quarterly dividend to 1 cent from 15 cents. Shares slumped over 10%.
Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD, Fortune 500) warned late Monday that first-quarter sales won't meet its previous forecast due to weakness across all of its businesses. The company also said it was cutting 10% of its workforce. Shares fell almost 5% Tuesday.
Chip gear maker Novellus Systems (NVLS) warned that first-quarter earnings won't meet earlier forecasts and that revenue will hit the low end of its previous forecast. Shares fell just over 8%.
Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) and other chipmakers fell in tandem. The Philadelphia Semiconductor (SOXX) index, or the Sox, fell 2.8%.
Dow component Alcoa (AA, Fortune 500) set the quarterly earnings period in motion late Monday on a down note, reporting results that fell from a year earlier and missed estimates, on sales that fell and beat forecasts. Shares fell less than 1%.
On the upside, biotech Antigenics (AGEN) rose 22% in unusually active trade after it got the OK to market its kidney cancer vaccine in Russia, even after the vaccine failed to win U.S. approval.
Commodity prices. U.S. light crude oil for May delivery fell 59 cents to settle at $108.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
COMEX gold for June delivery fell $8.30 to $918.50 an ounce.
Other markets. The dollar gained versus the euro and fell against the yen.
Treasury prices fell, boosting the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.56% from 3.54%. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions. 
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