| Stocks Shutter In Wake Of Mixed Earnings |
| Oct-19-2012 |
| Keywords: stocks, earnings, selloff, ge, mcd, goog, msft |
A deluge of disappointing quarterly reports proving too much for investors, resulting in the biggest session losses in the stock market since June.
Investors ran for the exit doors and a string of mixed earnings reports dampened the mood on Wall Street.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 205 points. The tech heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 67 points. The S&P 500 finished with a 24-point loss.
Those losses proved to be the worst for the stock market in four months, all but wiping out gains accrued earlier in the week. The Dow edged up 0.1%, the S&P 500 finished with a 0.32%, while the Nasdaq finished down 1.3%, lower now for second straight week.
The market today spooked by mixed quarterly reports from Dow components General Electric, McDonald's and Microsoft. General Electric's stock fell 3.4% after revealing profits that met expectations and sales that trailed Wall Street's forecasts.
The shares of Microsoft lost 2.9% following is mixed results. The software giant's topline number hurt by weakening demand for PC's in the 3rd quarter.
And McDonald's proved to be the biggest drag on the blue chip index, falling nearly 4.5% after its earnings per share fell well short of estimates.
Technology stocks were a big drag on the market as well. Apple's stock down 3%, closing down more than 13% from its record intraday high of $705 set less than a month ago.
Advanced Micro Devices plummeted 16.8%. Wall Street downgrading the chipmaker in response to it wider than expected quarterly loss, and its disappointing 4th quarter revenue guidance.
Losses were not limited to the stock market however. Gold prices fell 1.2%, closing at $1,724 an ounce. Crude oil prices sank 2.2% or $2.05, settling at $90.05 a barrel. Today's selloff drove both gold and crude down more than 2% on the week.
Economic news obviously did little to stem losses on Wall Street today. The National Association of Realtors reported sales of existing homes dropped 1.7% to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 4.75 million units in September. That drop was inline with estimates. Sales were up 11% year over year, with the median sales prices soaring 11.3% to $183,900. |
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Posted by Lou Dobbs Staff at 9:00 PM Email to a friend |
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