US stocks fall as Apple, Microsoft tumble

Shares of Apple tumbled 4.3 percent and Microsoft fell 3.7 percent as disappointing earnings from the two technology titans weighed Wednesday on the broader market.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 17,849.87, down 69.42 points (0.39 percent).

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 5.19 (0.24 percent) to 2,114.02, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index sank 36.35 (0.70 percent) to 5,171.77.

Apple reported that net income for the quarter ending June 27 jumped 38 percent to $10.7 billion. But traders focused on a revenue forecast that fell shy of expectations and commentary from some analysts that the 47.5 million iPhones sold missed expectations.

Deutsche Bank said the market's reaction to Apple's results showed "it's getting harder to beat the bulls."

Microsoft reported a loss of $3.19 billion due to a hefty writedown on the smartphone business it acquired from Nokia and restructuring charges of nearly a billion dollars.