U.S. stocks fall on weakness in Caterpillar

S&P 500 e-minis were down 15.5 points, or 0.8 percent, with 230,212 contracts traded. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 113.35 points, or 0.7 percent, to 16,314.67. Signs of weak growth overseas won’t prove large enough to have a significant impact on policy, the Fed chairwoman said in remarks that were briefly upstaged when she faltered and appeared to feel ill.

Its net revenue rose 1.4 percent to $7.89 billion.

Banks and other financial companies got a boost after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said that the central bank was still likely to raise interest rates this year.

Yellen, due to deliver an inflation speech at 5 p.m. ET (2100 GMT), had cited concerns about slowing global growth as a key reason for holding off from a long-anticipated Fed rate hike last Thursday. That sparked declines in USA equities in five out of six sessions prior to Yellen’s speech.

Now traders are pricing in about a 40 percent chance of an increase in December, down from 49 percent as recently as Monday, and a 48 percent probability in January, according to Bloomberg. Suddenly, last week, markets didn’t react well when the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) chose to wait on hiking rates because of global concerns. The measure of market turbulence known as the VIX rose 0.6 percent Friday to 23.62, after earlier erasing an 11 percent drop.

Economic reports: The USA economy grew at an annual 3.9% pace in the second quarter instead of 3.7%, revised government data show.

Consumer sentiment fell to 87.2 in September from 91.9 in August, but beat the median forecast of 86.7.

A late slump in health care stocks pushed the market to its third weekly loss this month. On Monday, U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she would announce a plan to stop “price gouging” for specialty drugs, sparking a fall in the shares.

“This morning’s data have no substantive effect on our tracking estimate, and we continue to look for GDP growth of 2.5% from the fourth quarter through late next year”.

Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) fell 1.3% and was one of the four decliners on the Dow.

All 10 major S&P sectors were higher, led by the financial index’s 1.28 per cent gain.

Nike (NKE), Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY), Jabil Circuit (JBL) and Pier 1 Imports (PIR) are all expected to come after the bell.

“I don’t think there’s going to be much ahead of that”, said Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at The Lindsey Group.