US stocks are taking a step back today, mostly driven by negative earnings news

US stocks are taking a step back today, mostly driven by negative earnings news. The biggest hit came from Caterpillar. Earlier this week, I mentioned CAT as one of the major earnings releases to watch this week due to its reflection of industrial demand. And sure enough, the market is reacting to CAT's decreased revenue and profit outlook. The company is especially seeing slower orders for equipment from mining companies because of softening demand for metals. So does that imply economic growth is slowing? Perhaps not. I'm of the opinion that CAT placed too big of a bet on the mining industry and is now paying the price. Mining has returned to normal levels, whereas we recently experienced a major commodity boom.. I believe CAT bought into the emerging market story just a bit too enthusiastically.