US stocks close October in the red

New York - US stocks fell on Thursday following a flood of mixed earnings reports, but registered strong gains for the entire tumultuous month of October.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 73.01 points to finish at 15 545.75.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 6.77 points to 1 756.54, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index declined 10.91 points to 3 919.71.

Despite the day's losses, the markets cruised through a dramatic October, marked by a cliffhanging Washington battle over the budget and the debt ceiling, as well as the 16-day partial government shutdown.

Over the month, the Dow gained 2.8%, the Nasdaq was up 3.9% and the S&P 500 advanced 4.5%.

Earnings returned to focus after the Federal Reserve on Wednesday maintained its aggressive monetary stimulus policy in a widely expected decision.

ExxonMobil reported an 18% fall in profit to $7.9bn, but the biggest US oil company beat expectations on higher oil and gas output despite weakness in the refining segment. The Dow member's shares rose 0.9%.

Dow component Visa fell 3.8% after earnings matched expectations but revenues lagged forecasts of $3.02bn at $2.97bn. The company authorised a new $5.0bn share repurchase program.

Facebook fell 2.4% after signaling that it sees usage weakness among young teens, a prime market for the social-networking giant.

Starbucks slipped 0.3% after giving a 2014 earnings forecast that lagged analyst expectations.

Cosmetics company Estee Lauder lost 0.6% despite besting expectations by three cents at 76 cents per share and raising the range of its earnings guidance. The company is "well positioned for the important holiday shopping period," said chief executive Fabrizio Freda.

But another cosmetics company, Avon Products, plummeted 21.9% after disclosing that US agencies are seeking a penalty of a "magnitude significantly greater" than the company's proposal to settle a foreign bribery investigation.

Oil company ConocoPhillips edged up 0.1% after earnings rose 38% to $2.5bn. The company said it was on track with some $8.9bn in asset sales and with efforts to grow oil and gas production by 3% - 5%.