US stocks slipped on disappointing earnings reports yesterday, while UK shares rose helped by mining firms, and crude oil prices fell as the US dollar hit a seven month high.

Nine of the eleven sectors in the benchmark U.S. S&P 500 stock index were negative, after poor earnings forecasts from some of the largest companies.

General Motors Co shares fell more than 4.7 per cent, despite better-than-expected third-quarter earnings, amid fears a slowdown in US vehicle sales and a rising US dollar will undercut international profits.

Caterpillar Inc also reported a sharply lower quarterly profit on slow sales, driving its stock price down 1.4 per cent.

Manufacturer 3M fell three per cent to $165.87 after the maker of Scotch tape and Post-it notes trimmed its full-year revenue and earnings forecasts for the second time.

“We’ve had some mixed earnings today and the market right now is digesting earnings and positioning itself ahead of the Fed meeting next week,” said Jeff Zipper, managing director for investments at Private Client Reserve at US Bank in Palm Beach, Florida. Another third of the S&P 500 index stocks are scheduled to report earnings later this week, including heavyweights Apple , Alphabet, Amazon and Boeing.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 40.27 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 18,182.76, the S&P 500 lost 5.72 points, or 0.27 per cent, to 2,145.61 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 20.81 points, or 0.39 per cent, to 5,289.02.

It was a different picture in Europe, where mining companies rose 2.9 per cent, lifted in part by Anglo American. The mining company rose four per cent after its production update. Anglo is the top performing stock on Europe’s STOXX 600 this year.

The UK’s FTSE 100 Index extended gains, rising 0.34 per cent as sterling dipped slightly.

Germany’s Dax turned slightly lower after hitting its highest level of the year.

The closely-watched Ifo survey had beat expectations a day after purchasing manager numbers had done the same. Metal prices also surged, with zinc up 1.88 per cent at $2,355, from an earlier three-week high of $2,376. It is up nearly 60 per cent from January lows on worries about shortages.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.7 per cent to close at a six-month high as a softening yen burnished the outlook for the country’s exporters. Australian stocks added 0.6 per cent and Taiwan 0.7 per cent. Other commodity prices slipped though as many are priced in US dollars and the greenback rose to a seven month high on  major currencies.

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