It was a mixed picture in the US as the Dow Jones went higher earlier before dropping back.
On Monday, the benchmark Dow closed down 0.5% to stand at 15,011 - its fourth drop in a session.
Today it is down around 16 points, at 0.11%, at 14,994.
Meanwhile, the broader S&P 500 index added one to stand at 1,647 and Nasdaq added 11 to trade at 3,600.
Best Buy Co was pick of the bunch as the electronic retailer rose to the top of the S&P 500, adding 10.1%, after cost cutting improved second quarter profit. It was one of several retail firms posting numbers today.
Medtronic Inc (LON:MDT) was the top loser on S&P, losing 2.6% to stand at US$52.69.
In the UK, the Footsie was losing earlier gains and decidedly back into the red by 3pm , down 0.80% at 6,411.
Oilfield services group Wood Group (LON:WG.) remains the worst performing top-liner, down 8.75%. Though the group reported a 16.6% increase in first half pre-tax profits, shareholders took fright at the revelation that the company's business in Western Canada, which represents just over 5% of the revenue of the Wood Group Engineering division, has weakened further and the company does not expect it to recover during 2014. Silver firm Fresnillo (LON:FRES) was top dog- up 1.21%.
Building materials firm CRH (LON:CRH) is another casualty, as it slid into the red with a loss before tax in the first half of the year of €71mln, versus a profit the year before of €102mln. Shares slid 3.37%
As widely trailed, mining giant Glencore Xstrata (LON:GLEN) announced huge write-downs related to its merger in its trading update this morning.
The compan wiped US$7.7bn off the value of its assets following the merger of the commodities trader (Glencore) and miner (Xstrata) earlier this year.
Adjusted proforma underlying earnings (EBITDA) of US$6.0 billion in the first half of 2013 compared to US$6.6 billion in H1 2012, down 9%.
The shares are down 2.38%, but as most mining stocks are taking a bashing it is hard to judge how the results have been received.
Also in the red is mining colossus BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) after full-year underlying EBITDA fell 16% to US$28.4bn. The company provided more bad news for the over-supplied global potash industry as it said it would be slowing investment in the development of its giant Jansen deposit in Saskatchewan, Canada.
It would have been a good trading policy to short all Footsie companies declaring results today, as house builder Persimmon (LON:PSN) also falls, despite underlying profit before tax rising 40% year-on-year on revenue that rose 12% at the half-year stage.
In the growth stocks, South Africa-based gold miner Pan African Resources (LON:PAF) put in a strong operational performance in the last six months despite a tough mining environment.
In a trading statement, the miner said production totalled 130,500 ounces of gold in the year to June, which included a contribution of 34,200 ounces from February's Evander mine acquisition.
The shares moved up 1.85%.
Top Level Domain Holdings (LON:TLDH) had a “heads we win, tails you lose” set of results in the auction round for a number of new top level domain extensions, as even the auctions it lost resulted in it receiving a pay-out from the winning bidders.
While the group was outbid for .GUIDE and .网址 (which means web address in Chinese), it will receive more from the buyers than it paid for the domain suffixes it did win, namely .FISHING and .CASA. Shares are up 2.08%.