Early Dow gains falls away

US BLUE chips fell at midday Tuesday as worries about corporate profits, rising oil prices and nervousness surrounding the Federal Reserve's latest policy setting meeting washed out any good tiding from an earlier consumer confidence report.

Around 12:15 pm ET, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 143.72 to 7,728.43, moving closer to the four-year closing low of 7,702 set July 23. The Nasdaq composite, which ended at a six-year low Monday, slipped 0.71 to 1,184.22. The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 11.58 to 822.12.

"There's been a technical erosion and it continues to feed off of itself," said Peter Cardillo, director of research at Global Partners Securities. "The confidence number brought in some buying and cut some earlier losses, but the markets are basically still lower for all the same reasons they've been lower of late -- the poor earnings outlook, the prospect of war in Iraq, corporate mistrust.