NEW YORK, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks traded lower on Tuesday as several Dow components reported third-quarter earnings that disappointed investors.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 306.98 points, or 1.21 percent, to 25,010.43. The S&P 500 decreased 35.75 points, or 1.30 percent, to 2,720.13. The Nasdaq Composite Index erased 114.11 points, or 1.53 percent, to 7,354.52.

Caterpillar said Tuesday its prior 2018 adjusted earnings guidance to the range of 11 to 12 U.S. dollars per share, but the Wall Street expected the company to raise that forecast.

In addition, the heavy machinery maker said the impact of tariffs for third-quarter material costs was about 40 million dollars.

The disappointing earnings guidance and rising cost sent shares of the Dow component down 5 percent.

However, the company registered earnings per share of 2.88 dollars in the third quarter, and revenue of 13.51 billion dollars, both exceeding market expectations.

Shares of 3M plummeted more than 5 percent after its quarterly earnings and revenue missed expectations. The Dow component updated its 2018 earnings expectations to be in the range of 8.78 to 8.93 dollars per share, down from the previous range of 9.08 to 9.38 dollars. Enditem