Investing.com -- U.S. stocks were mixed during a see-saw, choppy day of trading as global equities fell to their lowest level in more than two years, providing significant downward pressure on all three major indices.
Investors also reacted to an ominous short-film from influential billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who issued stark warnings on the perils of a dramatic pull-back in equities if major changes are not enacted in the near-future.
"The earnings I see today are very suspect, we have companies today that are selling at 30 times their earnings and have no net worth cause they keep buying back their stocks," Icahn said in his short-film entitled Danger Ahead. "Yet analysts (continue to) look at quarter to quarter earnings. If your earnings go up for the quarter, your stock goes way up."
With one day remaining in the third quarter, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 Composite index remained on pace for one of their worst three-month periods in the last four years. The NASDAQ Composite index, meanwhile, continued its extended slide, as biotech stocks fell for the seventh consecutive session. After surging to all-time closing and record-highs earlier this summer, the NASDAQ has lost roughly 12% in value over the last two months.
The Dow gained 47.24 or 0.30% to 16,049.13, after briefly dropping below 16,000 for the first time in more than a year. The NASDAQ fell 26.65 or 0.59% to close at 4,517.32, while S&P 500 used a late rally to end Tuesday's session at 1,884.09, up 2.32 or 0.12%. Six of 10 sectors on the S&P closed in the green, as stocks in the Health Care, Basic Materials and Industrial sectors led. Stocks in the Technology, Consumer Services and Consumer Goods industries lagged.
The top performer on the Dow was multinational conglomerate 3M Company (NYSE:MMM), which gained 2.79 or 2.02% to 141.17. The worst performer was Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which fell 4.20 or 3.74% to 108.24, amid continuing fears of an impending recession in China. It came days after Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) said sales for its new iPhone 6s delivered the highest first weekend sales in company history.
The biggest gainer on the NASDAQ was Baidu Inc (NASDAQ:BIDU), which rose 3.12 or 2.34% to 136.18. Shares in the Chinese internet services company are still down by more than 40% over the last year. The worst performer was Discovery Communications a (NASDAQ:DISCA), which fell 1.31 or 4.70% to 26.48.
The top performer on the S&P 500 was Ensco, which surged 0.65 or 4.67% to 14.22. The worst performer was Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UA), which plummeted 6.98 or 7.04% to 93.75. Capitalizing on the success of golfer Jordan Spieth and reigning NBA MVP Steph Curry, Under Armour has seen its stock increase in value by more than 50% this year.
On the New York Stock Exchange, declining issues outnumbered advancing ones by a 1,786 to 1,350 margin.