Microsoft Tumbles On Downbeat Earnings, Schlumberger Gains

Midway through trading Friday, the Dow traded down 0.17 percent to 15,522.35 while the NASDAQ tumbled 0.70 percent to 3,585.86. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.09 percent to 1,687.86.

Top Headline
General Electric (GE) reported a 0.9 percent rise in its second-quarter earnings. GE's quarterly profit surged to $3.13 billion, or $0.30 per share, from $3.11 billion, or $0.29 per share, in the year-earlier period. Its operating earnings declined to $0.36 from $0.38 per share. Its revenue dropped 3.5 percent to $35.12 billion. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $0.35 per share on revenue of $35.56 billion. Its total costs and expenses declined 2.5 percent to $31.39 billion. Revenue from GE Capital dropped 3.3 percent to $10.98 billion.

Equities Trading UP
Skyworks Solutions (SWKS) shot up 7.31 percent to $24.09 after the company reported upbeat third-quarter profit. Shares of Synovus Financial (SNV) got a boost, shooting up 5.02 percent to $3.25 after the company announced the pricing of common stock offering. The company reported a rise in its Q2 net income. Schlumberger (SLB) was also up, gaining 4.46 percent to $81.98 on upbeat Q2 results.

Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Microsoft (MSFT) were down 9.76 percent to $31.98 after the company reported downbeat FQ4 earnings. Community Health Systems (CYH) was down, falling 8.75 percent to $43.17 after the company issued weak Q2 outlook. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) shares tumbled 15.12 percent to $3.94 after the company posted a loss in the second quarter.

Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.53 percent to $108.61, while gold traded up 0.67 percent to $1,294.10. Silver traded up 0.34 percent Friday to $19.46, while copper rose 0.45 percent to $3.15.

Euro zone
European shares were mostly lower today. The Spanish Ibex Index fell 0.48 percent and the Italian FTSE MIB Index gained 0.18 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX declined 0.21 percent and the French CAC 40 fell 0.26 percent while U.K. shares dropped 0.29 percent.

Economics
On the economics calendar Friday, there is no important data due out.

BY Jake L'Ecuyer