Dow falls more than 200 points

The Dow Jones industrial average traded down more than 200 points Friday, weighed down by unimpressive earnings from firms such as Microsoft, General Electric and McDonald's.

At mid-afternoon, the Dow was down 219 points, or 1.6 per cent, at 13,330.

If those losses hold to the close, it will be the Dow's its worst day since June.

The drop came on the 25th anniversary of Black Monday, the 1987 global stock market crash.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 25 points, or 1.7 per cent, to 1,432 and the Nasdaq was off 70, or 2.3 per cent, at 3,003.

In Toronto, the stock market was less in the red Friday after four straight days of gains. The S&P/TSX composite index fell 69 points to 12,397.

The loonie was down 0.84 of a cent to 100.69 cents US.

General Electric's income rose 49 per cent in the third quarter to $3.49 billion, in line with expectations. But revenue of $36.35 billion fell short of analyst forecasts.

Microsoft's net income fell 22 per cent to $4.47 billion US, or 53 cents per share, three cents short of estimates, in the latest quarter amid sliding PC sales and ongoing economic problems in Europe.

McDonald's turned in earnings per share of $1.43 against the $1.47 that analysts had expected.

"And they have this global footprint," said John Johnston, chief strategist at Davis-Rea Ltd.

"That's one number that gives us an insight into the global economy where it takes a lot of economic releases cobbled together to try to get the same kind of picture."

Investors were also unimpressed with an agreement early Friday by the leaders of the 17 eurozone countries to push ahead with a single banking supervisory body. The leaders remained vague on key details, such as when the supervisor will be up and running.

Some investors and analysts worry that Europe's politicians may have lost the incentive to fix things quickly now that market turmoil has subsided. The borrowing costs of countries like Spain have eased since the European Central Bank unveiled in September a new bond-buying program.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dow-falls-more-200-points-193907597--finance.html

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