Earnings From McDonald's, Microsoft Sink Stocks
by Oct 19th 2012 10:45AM
By Matthew CraftNEW YORK (AP) - Disappointing earnings reports from McDonald's (MCD), Microsoft (MSFT) and other companies dragged the stock market down Friday.
McDonald's led a broad drop in the Dow Jones industrial average, falling 3 percent. The Dow was down 100 points at 13,448 a half hour after the opening bell.
The Standard & Poor's 500 sank eight points to 1,448 and the Nasdaq composite dropped 23 points to 3,048. All 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 fell.
McDonald's profit sank as a strong dollar hurt international results, which account for two-thirds of its business. The fast-food giant's stock lost $2.86 to $90.00.
Microsoft's income fell 22 percent as PC sales took a dive and as troubles in Europe took their toll. Its stock lost 55 cents to $28.94.
General Electric (GE), another economic bellwether, fell 3 percent. The company reported stronger profits early Friday but its revenue missed Wall Street's expectations. Orders for new equipment and services sank, mainly because wind turbine orders have fallen because a key U.S. federal subsidy for wind power expires at the end of the year.
GE's stock lost 67 cents to $22.16.
Weak earnings from Google (GOOG) and a rise in claims for unemployment benefits helped pull the stock market lower Thursday. That snapped a four-day run of gains for the Dow.
The major market indexes are still higher for the week. The Dow is up 0.9 percent and the S&P 500 up 1.4 percent.
In other Friday trading, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipped to 1.81 percent from 1.83 percent late Thursday.
Oil prices edged up close to $93 a barrel after a pipeline transporting crude from Canada to the Midwest was shut down for repairs.
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