Alcoa (NYSE:AA) kicked off the official earnings season with a beat after the bell Tuesday, sending shares higher in after-hours trading. The company also held strong to its forecast for doubling aluminum demand between 2010 and 2020, though AA shares only crawled slightly higher in early after-market trading.

Earnings and revenue both grew year-over-year for Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) as well. The company beat EPS estimates by 2 cents and raised its full-year earnings guidance, sending YUM up 4% after hours.

U.S. stocks fell during normal trading hours, though, as investors braced themselves for the start of what is still expected to be a gloomy quarter overall. The IMF also recently warned that the global slowdown is worsening. The news came on the heels of similarly glum warnings from economic bellwethers including Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) and FedEx (NYSE:FDX).

For the day, the Nasdaq was sent 1.5% in the red to 3,065.02, the S&P dropped just under 1% to 1,441.49 and the Dow slid 0.9% to 13,473.99.

Tech stocks in particular fueled the markets’ downward movement on Tuesday — especially for the Nasdaq. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) for one, entered correction territory, trading down 10% from its all-time high and receiving a rating of “neutral” from Nomura. Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) also reached a 52-week low with a loss of 2.7% on the day thanks to two negative analyst calls.

Energy stocks also saw solid gains. James River Coal (NASDAQ:JRCC) climbed by double digits, Alpha Natural Resources (NYSE:ANR) was up over 7% and Arch Coal (NYSE:ACI), Gulfport Energy (NASDAQ:GPOR), Newfield Exploration (NYSE:NFX), Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU) and countless others finished in the black.

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) shares continued their wild ride as well, dropping nearly 9% after an analyst cut the video streaming company’s stock to “underperform” from “buy.” The fall erased the company’s double-digit Monday gains.

RadioShack (NYSE:RSH) was able to shake the downward trend by soaring more than 12% after an Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Merrill Lynch analyst upgraded the stock to “buy” from “underperform.”

In gaming news, Glu Mobile (NASDAQ:GLUU) plummeted just under 20% even after announcing a partnership with Probability PLC, a gambling operator based in the U.K. The company has been suffering collateral damage from the struggles of rival Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA).

Finally, Spectrum Brands (NYSE:SPB) gained nearly 12% after announcing its plans to purchase Stanley Black & Decker’s (NYSE:SWK) hardware and home improvement business for $1.4 billion.

Three Up

• BSD Medical Corp. (NASDAQ:BSDM): Up 73.7% (87 cents) to $2.05.
• Affymax (NASDAQ:AFFY): Up 5.4% ($1.21) to $23.76.
• The Bon-Ton Stores (NASDAQ:BONT): Up 5.2% (55 cents) to $11.20.

Three Down

• Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW): Down 21.2% ($22.81) to $84.60.
• Vringo (NASDAQ:VRNG): Down 18.1% (98 cents) to $3.29.
• Vasco Data Security (NASDAQ:VDSI): Down 17.9% ($1.60) to $7.34.

Alyssa Oursler is an editorial assistant at InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, she did not own a position at any of the aforementioned securities.