U.S. stocks are down Wednesday on disappointing earnings from the tech sector.

The S&P 500 Index fell 15.11 points, or 1.23 percent, to trade at 1,210.27 at 3:01 p.m. ET. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 77.46 points, or 0.67 percent, to trade at 11,499.59. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 1.82 percent.

Late Tuesday, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) reported weak earnings that missed analyst expectations for the first time since 2004.

Its shares are down 5.13 percent. Apple’s downbeat results, coupled with IBM's (NYSE:IBM) disappointing report on Monday, cast a negative light on the entire sector.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), for example, plunged 5.43 percent.

Below is a chart of the Nasdaq 100 (from thinkorswim), showing the poor performance of the entire tech-heavy index.

Back on Tuesday, U.S. stocks rose on upbeat earnings from financials and a Guardian report that Germany and France were pushing to expand the Eurozone bailout fund to two trillion euros.

On Wednesday, Wall Street earnings continued to impress. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), for example, topped estimates, and its shares are up 0.30 percent.

However, it was not able to outweigh the disappointment from Apple’s earnings. Moreover, various reports, including this one from Dow Jones, cast doubt on the initial Guardian report.

Germany Ibm