NEW YORK (AP) — Caterpillar used a combination of cost-cutting and strong sales of construction equipment to deliver a fourth-quarter profit that topped Wall Street estimates and gave the sagging stock market some needed support.

The Peoria, Ill., company has been buffeted by a sharp downturn in the global mining industry. Sales of mining equipment plunged 48 percent in the fourth quarter and profit in the mining business dropped 77 percent. As sales of large tractors and mining loaders slumped last year, Caterpillar shut plants and cut jobs. Those moves helped slash overall operating costs by $2 billion in the fourth quarter.

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