U.S. blue chips inched lower Tuesday afternoon as investors worried that oil prices, which jumped to another record, will eat into corporate profits and dampen consumer spending. Companies such as heavy equipment maker Caterpillar Inc., aerospace company United Technologies Corp. and diversified manufacturer 3M Co., which are sensitive to swings in the economy, weighed on the Dow. Hewlett-Packard Co. pulled on the Standard & Poor's 500 index. Investment bank JP Morgan & Co. cut its rating on the computer and printer maker to "neutral" from "overweight," citing the company's exposure to consumer PCs and printers. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 3 points, or 0.03 percent, at 10,213.89. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 1.89 points, or 0.17 percent, at 1,137.09. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index was up 7.82 points, or 0.40 percent, at 1,960.22. Earlier, government data on the services sector showed that growth was slower than expected last month. The ISM non-manufacturing survey for September showed an increase of 56.7 percent. Economists had expected the index to rise to 59 from 58.2 last month. --More 2317 Local Time 2017 GMT
