Earnings from McDonald's, Microsoft sink stocks

NEW YORK (AP) ? Disappointing earnings reports from McDonald's, Microsoft 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, 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.

Among other stocks making big moves, Chipotle Mexican Grill plunged 14 percent, the most in the S&P 500, after the burrito chain forecast that revenue growth would slow sharply next year. The stock had been a favorite among investors thanks to super-fast growth in recent years. The stock fell $41.32 to $244.61.

Weak earnings from Google 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.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-10-19-US-Wall-Street/id-04f21d0092fc491f81fa68e619b55794

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