NEW YORK, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks ended lower Monday as investors digested earnings reports as well as economic data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 54.67 points, or 0.23 percent, to 23,273.96. The S&P 500 lost 10.23 points, or 0.40 percent, to 2,564.98. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 42.23 points, or 0.64 percent, to 6,586.83.

Shares of VF Corp. jumped 5.39 percent to 69.95 U.S. dollars apiece on Monday, after the clothing company reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings. The company, whose brands include Timberland, the North Face and Dickies, also raised its outlook.

This earnings season has gotten off to a good start. According to consulting company Earnings Scout, about 80 percent of companies that have reported quarterly earnings beat on the bottom line as of Friday, while over 70 percent have topped sales estimates.

The latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the third quarter of 2017 are expected to rise 3.8 percent year on year, while the revenues are forecast to increase 4.4 percent.

On the economic front, led by improvements in production-related indicators, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) moved up to 0.17 in September from minus 0.37 in August, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago said Monday.

Meanwhile, investors kept a close eye on the country's tax reform plan. Some analysts believed that the Trump administration will be able to push on with tax cuts, after the Senate passed a budget blueprint for the next fiscal year last week. Enditem

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