According to "Topix.net", Lackluster earnings reports from Dow Jones industrials General Electric Co. and Citigroup Inc. sent stocks plunging Friday as soaring energy prices compounded the gloom. The Dow lost more than 170 points, and the Nasdaq composite index tumbled more than 45.
A tempered outlook from Motorola Inc. also disappointed traders although its newest cell phone helped double its profit last quarter. Elsewhere, news that supermarket chain Albertson’s Inc. has resumed takeover talks drove gains in its stock.
While GE and Citigroup’s results came in just shy of analysts’ estimates, the large-cap firms that released earnings this week would have needed blockbuster reports to satisfy Wall Street’s overblown expectations, said Rick Pendergraft, an equity trader at Schaeffer’s Investment Research.
"The ramp up we had into earnings let you know that people were expecting big things," Pendergraft said. "Any time we go into an earnings season and the market is overbought, it sends up a caution flag for me."
Iran’s nuclear arms dispute and threats of terrorist attacks on the United States propelled the energy market. A barrel of light crude surged $1.46 to a four-month high of $68.65 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, where natural gas also bounced off recent lows to add 37.5 cents to $9.28 per 1,000 cubic feet.
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