US stocks fell on Friday, with the major indexes slipping for the first week in three, as weak results from industrial companies overshadowed robust earnings from those in the tech and retail sectors.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 109 points to 9,972. The S&P500 Index lost 13 points to 1,080 and the NASDAQ dropped 11 points to 2,154.
In economic news, data from the National Association of Realtors showed sales of previously owned homes jumped 9.4% to an annual rate of 5.6 million in September, that’s up from 5.1 million in August. Home sales have been helped by a popular $8,000 government tax credit for first-time buyers and there are fears the expiration of the credit at the end of November could hamper the recovery.
In company news: Shares of Burlington Northern Santa Fe (NYSE:BNI) shares fell 6.5% to $79.12 a day after the company reported a 30% drop in quarterly profit. The freight company also issued a fourth-quarter forecast that signaled freight demand has yet to turn a corner.
Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) shares dropped 4.96% to $65.20 as the oilfield services company warned natural gas drilling activity would remain weak until late 2010.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares added 5.38% to $28.02, after reporting first-quarter earnings and sales that beat expectations.
American Express (NYSE:AXP) shares fell 5.1% to $34.58. The company reported adjusted third-quarter earnings that beat expectations, though total credit card spending was down 11% from the year before.
Checking the NASDAQ Top 100: The best performer was Amazon.com which jumped 26.8% to a high of $118.49 as investors rewarded the company for its strong third-quarter earnings that soared past expectations. The next top performers were Microsoft and Baidu.
CA was the NASDAQ’s worst performing stock on Friday, falling 9.62% to $21.61 following the release of disappointing company results. Broadcom and Biogen also finished lower.
