Separately, Volkswagen's VLKAY alleged scandal related to vehicle emission tests and a massive decline in Caterpillar Inc.'s CAT shares following job cut announcement dented investor confidence. Meanwhile, better-than-expected second quarter GDP numbers indicated that the US economy is back on track. Though a year-over-year gain of 0.3% in PCE index - an important indicator of inflation - indicated that the inflation rate is significantly below the Fed's target of 2%, a rise of 0.4% in consumer spending in August indicated rising demand.