NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks finished slightly lower Friday as President Donald Trump’s latest tariff threats and attack on the Federal Reserve kept a lid on gains despite largely solid earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down less than 0.1 percent at 25,058.06.
The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.1 percent to close the week at 2,801.83, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index also fell 0.1 percent to 7,820.20.
With the majority of larger earnings reports still to come, companies are on track to report second-quarter earnings about 20 percent above those of the year-ago period, according to a note from Credit Suisse.
“Overall, the earnings season has been strong, topline revenue growth has been solid as well,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial.
But Trump kept some of the focus on trade fights after telling CNBC in an interview that he was willing to significantly expand the conflict with China by adding tariffs to all US imports.
On Twitter, Trump also accused China and the European Union of manipulating their currencies to promote their exports at the expense of the US, and criticized the Fed for raising interest rates.
Among companies reporting results, Microsoft won 1.8 percent after reporting a 10 percent rise in quarterly profit to $8.8 billion behind strong revenue gains in internet search ads, gaming, Windows and other key businesses.
Honeywell International advanced 3.8 percent as the industrial company raised its forecast for annual profits and sales amid strong demand from aerospace and defense clients.
But General Electric sank 4.5 percent after it reported a 29.7 percent drop in second-quarter earnings to $615 million on continued power industry weakness.
Source: Brecorder
