(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors - N.America) Blue chip stocks were in focus Friday as earnings took centre stage with US stock futures pointing down as both Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) disappointed.
Futures on the Dow were lately down 42 points to 13,445, futures on the Nasdaq were lower by 4.75 points at 2,728 and S&P 500 futures fell 3.5 points to 1,448.
Last night, Microsoft Corp disappointed investors, as its shares dropped more than 2% in pre-market hours after the software giant reported lower-than-expected quarterly results.
Google's third quarter results took an unexpected toll on markets Thursday, as disappointing earnings were released early by mistake, impacting shares of Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO).
For its third quarter, the search engine giant posted a profit of $2.18 billion, or $6.53 per share, compared with a profit of $2.73 billion, or $8.33 per share a year earlier. Adjusted profit was $9.03 per share.
Revenue, minus traffic acquisition costs, was $11.33 billion, up from $7.51 billion in the year-earlier period. Analysts were expecting an adjusted profit of $10.63 a share, on revenue of $11.39 billion. Shares in Google were up slightly before the bell Friday.
This morning, several other blue chip names reported results.
General Electric (NYSE:GE) reported a third-quarter profit of $3.49 billion, or 33 cents a share, up from $3.22 billion, or 22 cents, in the same period a year earlier. Operating earnings were 36 cents per share, meeting estimates. Revenue of $36.35 billion missed Wall Street's expectations, however, as foreign exchange rates hurt revenue by around $1.1 billion. The company re-iterated its outlook for the year.
Honeywell (NYSE:HON) said earnings rose 10 per cent in the third quarter, though revenue was almost flat from the prior year period. Margins improved, and the company updated its profit outlook for the full year.
McDonald's Corp (NYSE:MCD) shares fell 3% after the world's largest burger chain said third-quarter profit fell 3% to $1.46 billion, or $1.43 a share, from $1.51 billion, or $1.45 a share, in the year-ago period. Currency translations impacted the latest quarter's results by 8 cents a share.
Revenue fell to $7.15 billion from $7.17 billion. Wall Street analysts expected McDonald's to earn $1.47 a share on sales of about $7.17 billion.
In the energy sector, Baker Hughes (NYSE:BHI) and Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) also turned in results, with shares of both falling ahead of the open Friday.
Abroad in Europe, Spain has still not requested any formal aid at the EU summitt underway, with the country seemingly waiting until EU leaders approve the banking supervision process.
The new system, to be headed by the European Central Bank, is expected to begin January 1, 2014 - a year later than planned - and will cover all Euro-area banks. There are still no details of yet on how the bank losses should be shared.
On the economic data front at home, the National Association of Realtors is slated to release September existing home sales at 10am ET. Economists polled by MarketWatch expect to see a slight fall on the month to a 4.8 million annual rate. This would still be a 12% rise on an annual basis.
Commodities
Crude for November was up 22 cents top $92.32 per barrel in electronic trade, while gold for December was lower by $9.00 to $1,735.70 an ounce.
Europe
European markets were trading lower Friday, with shares in France off the most. The CAC 40 was down 0.65% while Germany's DAX was off 0.58% and Britain's FTSE 100 was lower by 0.23%.
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