By NBC News wire services
Microsoft and McDonald's are leading a broad decline in the stock market after both companies posted sub-par results for the third quarter.
The two stocks were the weakest in the Dow Jones industrial average in early trading Friday. Shortly after the opening bell the index was down 67 points at 13,481.
The Standard & Poor's 500 was down six points at 1,451 and the Nasdaq composite was off 17 points at 3,055.
Microsoft's income fell 22 percent as PC sales took a dive and as troubles in Europe took their toll. McDonald's profit fell 4 percent as a strong dollar hurt international results. Both stocks were down about 3 percent.
"Investor sentiment is hard to recover after (disappointing results from) Microsoft and Google, although I think the impact will be short-lived. Still, we are looking at a very defensive market here," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist with Rockwell Global Capital in New York.
Diversified U.S. manufacturer Honeywell International reported a 10 percent rise in quarterly earnings as declining natural gas prices helped boost profit at its UOP chemical arm, offsetting weakness in Europe. Still, the stock fell 1.9 percent in premarket trading.
"We believe it is still premature to conclude that the rally that began in June is over, and we would need to see the S&P break below 1400, the five month relative performance uptrend of stocks versus bonds reverse," said Robert Sluymer, analyst at RBC Capital Markets in New York.
European shares dipped but remained on course for strong weekly gains on Friday, while Spanish and Italian bond yields hit their lowest levels in over half a year.
Yahoo's South Korean operation will pull out of the country and end its local Internet portal service in December, Yonhap news agency reported.
Archer Daniels Midland bought a 10 percent stake in GrainCorp on Friday, valuing the Australian grains handler at $2.8 billion, and is seeking talks on a takeover that would give the U.S. agribusiness a stronger platform to supply Asia.
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc said Thursday restaurant sales growth would cool in 2013, leading some analysts to believe that could signal the end of impressive growth for the company that investors had come to enjoy.
PC chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices said Thursday it will cut its work force of nearly 12,000 by 15 percent, its second round of layoffs in less than a year as it struggles with a weak global economy and a consumer shift toward tablets.
U.S. stocks fell on Thursday, with technology stocks hit hard after Google's surprisingly weak earnings disappointed investors.
Trading in October has been relatively subdued, with the benchmark S&P 500 gaining 1.1 percent so far in the month.
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the stock market crash of 1987, or Black Monday, when the Dow Jones index plummeted 22 percent for the worst single-day percentage loss on Wall Street.?
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note edged down to 1.81 percent from 1.83 percent late Thursday.
The?Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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