TORONTO -- The Toronto stock market was flirting with a second triple-digit loss in as many days as oil prices continued their recent retreat, hitting a two-month low.

At mid-afternoon, the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX index was off its worst levels of the day, but still down 100.99 points at 13,689.91 after having plunged almost 163 points on Monday.

On commodity markets, the December contract for benchmark crude oil was down $1.04 at US$42.94 a barrel, a level not seen since late August. December natural gas rebounded three cents to US$2.09 per mmBtu after the November contract, the one most heavily traded on Monday, plunged a whopping 22 cents.

December gold was up 10 cents at US$1,166.30 an ounce, while the commodity sensitive loonie gave back 0.54 of a cent to 75.43 cents U.S.

In New York, markets were down in the face of some disappointing earnings results and forecasts. The Dow Jones industrial average was 42.56 points lower at 17,580.49, while the broader S&P 500 shed 8.30 points to 2,062.88 and the Nasdaq fell 12.60 points to 5,022.10.

In earnings news, Ford reported improved sales of its new F-150 pickup truck, but its net income fell short of Wall Street estimates, while UPS slumped after the package delivery company surprised investors by saying its revenue dipped in the third quarter.

Enginemaker Cummins dropped almost eight per cent after the company posted disappointing third-quarter results and cut its outlook for the year. Cummins said it will eliminate up to 2,000 salaried jobs or almost four per cent of its workforce due to a drop in global demand and revenue.

Traders were also awaiting the outcome of the two-day policy rate meeting of the Federal Reserve, which began on Tuesday. The U.S. central bank is not expected to raise rates when it makes its announcement on Wednesday.

However, remarks by Fed officials on the state of the halting U.S. economic recovery will be carefully dissected by the market for clues as to when rates may rise. Historically low rates at near zero since December 2008 have been credited with providing some of the liquidity that has fuelled markets since the Great Recession.

Patrick Maldari, a senior fixed income investment specialist at Aberdeen Asset Management, said signs of improvement in the U.S. may not show up for a long time.

"Nothing about this recovery has been normal," Maldari told The Associated Press. "It's going to take many months and probably quarters for us to see a trend toward more sustainability."