US Stock Market Move | Machinery giant Caterpillar (CAT.US) opens more than 10% lower, down nearly 40% from its June high.

Thursday, machinery giant Caterpillar (CAT.US) opened more than 10% lower, and as of publication the decline had narrowed to 8%, with the stock down 40% from its record high in June. On the news front, Caterpillar's pre-market release of its third-quarter 2026 results showed that, driven by volume growth and price realization, quarterly sales and revenue were $20.68 billion, up 17% year over year; adjusted earnings per share were $7.20, above the market expectation of about $7.03 and compared with $4.95 a year earlier; GAAP earnings per share were $7.13. Operating profit was $4.21 billion, up 38% year over year, with an operating margin of 20.4%; the adjusted operating margin was 20.6%, up 3.1 percentage points from a year earlier. Quarterly operating profit included $128 million in tariff refunds. However, the company forecast only "modest" sales growth for the fourth quarterand despite its largest division directly supplying power equipment for AI data centers, that forecast still disappointed investors.