US stock futures point lower at end of the week
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock futures headed lower Friday following disappointing earnings reports from Ford Motor and other big companies. The stock market was still on track to end the week with a slight gain.
KEEPING SCORE: A half hour before the opening bell, Dow Jones industrial average futures were down 55 points, or 0.3 percent, to 16,376. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures sank six points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,868 and the technology-heavy Nasdaq futures fell 20 points, or 0.5 percent, to 3,566.
The broad-market S&P 500 index, the most widely used benchmark for stock funds, has gained 0.7 percent this week.
FORD: Ford Motor Co. reported earnings early Friday that fell short of Wall Street's expectations. Worldwide sales rose 6 percent in the first quarter, buoyed by growing strength in Asia and Europe. But a sales drop in North America pinched the company's profit. The carmaker's shares dropped 33 cents, or 2 percent, to $15.99 in premarket trading.
AMAZON: Shares in Amazon, the world's largest online store, sank $19.51, or almost 6 percent, to $317.64 in premarket trading. The company reported an increase in first-quarter profit late Thursday, but it said that spending on investments will likely lead to an operating loss in the second quarter.
ABROAD: In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 0.2 percent. Germany's DAX fell 1 percent while the CAC-40 in France was down 0.4 percent.
OTHER MARKETS: Prices for U.S. government bonds were higher, pushing the yield on the 10-year note down to 2.66 percent from 2.68 percent late Thursday. Yields fall when bond prices rise. The price of oil slipped 55 cents to $101.39.
