US stocks fall on mixed earnings reports
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are lower in morning trading Friday as the first-quarter reporting season draws to a close. Eight of the ten industry groups in the Standard and Poor's 500 index are down. CBS dropped the most in the index on disappointing revenue.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average fell 33 points, or 0.2 percent, to 16,518 at 11:17 a.m. Eastern Time. The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped six points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,869. The Nasdaq composite fell 17 points, or 0.4 percent, to 4,034.
CBS DROP: CBS fell $2.62, or 4.5 percent, to $55.39 after first-quarter revenue fell short of analysts' projections. Advertising sales at television's top-rated network slumped 12 percent.
RETAILER SLUMPS: Ralph Lauren fell $5.870, or nearly 4 percent, to $146.29 after its revenue forecast disappointed investors.
RETAILER RISES: Gap rose $1.35, or 3 percent, $40.59 after the clothes store chain reported strong sales results for April and provided better-than-expected guidance for the first quarter.
HOTELIER HIGHER: Hilton Worldwide Holdings rose 57 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $23.21. The hotel chain reported first-quarter earnings of 13 cents versus the nine cents that analysts had expected.
SYMANTEC RISE: Symantec Corp. rose 65 cents, or 3 percent, to $20.78. The security software maker said cost cuts helped boost its fourth-quarter profit margins and net income.
OVERSEAS MARKETS: European markets fell amid renewed jitters about Ukraine. Pro-Russian militants are pressing ahead with plans for an independence referendum. Britain's FTSE 100 and Germany's DAX dropped 0.4 percent each. France's CAC-40 dropped 0.7 percent. In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.1 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average gained 0.3 percent.
TREASURIES AND COMMODITIES: The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was unchanged at 2.61 percent. The price of oil rose 57 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $100.83 a barrel.