AlQa'dah 21, 1432, Oct 19, 2011, SPA -- U.S. stocks finished lower on Wednesday, after the Federal Reserve (Fed) released a pessimistic report on regional economic activity. In world markets, European stocks ended higher, led by the FTSE 100 in Britain rising 0.6 percent. Asian markets ended mixed, as the Shanghai Composite fell 0.3 percent and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong rose 1.3 percent. In U.S. economic news, the Fed said that its 12 bank regions expanded at a modest pace in September and early October, a slight improvement from the previous period. The report found that consumer spending rose slightly in most districts, while manufacturing also rebounded. In U.S. company news, Apple Incorporated reported a 39 percent increase in third quarter sales to $28.3 billion, but the figures fell short of forecasts. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley reported a third-quarter profit, reversing a year-earlier loss, helped by a large accounting gain and increased investment-banking revenue. The second-biggest U.S. investment bank reported profit of $2.15 billion, compared to a loss of $91 million in the third quarter of 2010. Separately, United Technologies Corporation said its third-quarter profit rose almost 11 percent as orders increased sharply at several aerospace and building-systems businesses, and the manufacturing conglomerate raised its forecast for the year. The U.S. dollar fell versus the euro and versus the yen. Light sweet crude oil for November delivery fell $2.26 to $86.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures fell $9.40 to $1,643.40 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 72.43, or 0.6 percent, to 11,504.62. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 15.5, or 1.3 percent, to 1,209.88. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 53.39, or 2.0 percent, to 2,604.04.
