Microsoft, Google report quarterly results below expectations
By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks slid on Friday as earnings from Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. weighed on sentiment, offsetting upbeat results from General Electric Co. and Honeywell International Inc.
“We are clearly seeing a mixed reporting period,” emailed Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at the Lindsey Group LLC, noting that 64% of S&P 500 reporting companies have beaten estimates, below the trend of the past few years.
By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks slid on Friday as earnings from Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. weighed on sentiment, offsetting upbeat results from General Electric Co. and Honeywell International Inc.
“We are clearly seeing a mixed reporting period,” emailed Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at the Lindsey Group LLC, noting that 64% of S&P 500 reporting companies have beaten estimates, below the trend of the past few years.
Microsoft MSFT -10.81% fell 10% a day after the software manufacturer and Dow component reported quarterly results below expectations.
Google Inc. GOOG -1.08% fell 1.7% after the search engine’s earnings came in below estimates.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD -14.12% sank 14% after the chip maker reported a quarterly loss.
Disappointing results from the technology sector include Wednesday’s report from chip manufacturer and Dow component Intel Corp. INTC -1.44% .
General Electric GE +4.68% shares rose 5.4% after the jet-engine manufacturer and Dow component reported a better-than-expected profit in the second quarter.
Diversified manufacturer Honeywell HON +0.55% also reported stronger-than-estimated earnings, with its shares up 0.6%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA -0.20% lost 24.57 points, or 0.2%, to 15,523.97, readying it for a 0.4% gain for the week.
Up 0.5% from last Friday’s close, the S&P 500 index SPX -0.08% declined fractionally to 1,689, with technology hardest hit and industrials faring best of its 10 major sectors.
The Nasdaq Composite COMP -0.82% fell 25.05 points, or 0.7%, to 3,586.22, off 0.4% for the week, and in position for its first weekly drop in four.
For every four shares rising, roughly five fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where 355 million shares traded as of 11:20 a.m. Eastern. Composite volume neared 1.3 billion.
Treasury prices were positioned for a second weekly rise after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke calmed worries that a tapering of U.S. stimulus was coming soon. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note 10_YEAR -1.42% fell 3 basis points to 2.495%.
The dollar DXY -0.23% dropped against most of the currencies of U.S. trading partners after the People’s Bank of China said it would scrap the floor for certain lending rates in a move to further liberalize its financial system.
The cost of a barrel of oil CLU3 -0.17% was little changed at $108 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold gained for a second day on the view that appetite for the metal may rise as prices fall from a three-week high, with the futures contract for August GCQ3 +0.77% up $9.90, or 0.8%, to $1,294.10 an ounce on the Comex in New York.
On Thursday, U.S. stocks rose, lifting the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 to record finishes, after earnings from UnitedHealth Group Inc. UNH +1.00% and Morgan Stanley MS +0.38% topped estimates and jobless claims fell to a two-month low.
Kate Gibson is a reporter for MarketWatch, based in New York.
