After three days of gains, U.S. stocks fell Friday, as a mixed bag of corporate news and ongoing debt problems in Europe prompted investors to take some money off the table.
The Dow Jones industrial average declined 120.79 points on the day to end the session at 12,822.60
The S&P 500 gave back 13.84 points to 1,362.67. The Nasdaq fell 40.60 points to 2,925.30
Financial shares were among the biggest decliners, with Bank of America leading the Dow''s slide. JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley also fell, with shares down between 1% and 3%.
Investors were parsing through a big batch of quarterly earnings reports.
General Electric was one of the top gainers on the Dow, after the company reported earnings ahead of the opening bell that topped estimates, despite weaker-than-expected revenue.
But shares of Advanced Micro Devices and Chipotle Mexican Grill tumbled on disappointing results.
Investors had been bracing for a lackluster quarter. While nearly all of the companies that have reported so far have topped earnings expectations, analysts'' forecasts were very low to begin with, and many companies, like GE, have been missing revenue targets.
In fact, just 45% of companies that have reported have topped revenue expectations. That''s the lowest percentage since the first quarter of 2009, according to FactSet. Over the past four years on average, 56% of companies reported actual sales above the mean sales estimate at this same point in earnings season.
Xerox shares were lower after the company reported second-quarter earnings that were in line with forecasts, but the company missed revenue estimates and issued downward guidance for the current quarter.
Shares of SanDisk soared a day after the company blew past analysts'' expectations and said it expects strong demand for the remainder of the year. SanDisk makes flash technology used in mobile phones, tablets and eReaders.
Google shares rose a day after the search giant reported an 11% increase in profit.
Early Friday, entertainment company Viacom reached a "long-term" deal with DirectTV , ending a week-long feud between the two. That means that DirectTV subscribers won''t lose access to more than a dozen channels, including MTV, Nick and Comedy Central.
IPOs were also in focus early Friday. Palo Alto Networks jumped more than 30% in its public debut after pricing its initial public offering at $42 U.S. a share -- above its estimated range. Shares of travel site Kayak also climbed more than 30% on their first day of trading Friday. Kayak priced its IPO also above its estimated range, at $26 U.S. a share.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury strengthened, pushing the yield down to 1.46% from 1.52% late Thursday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for August delivery staggered $1.10 to $91.56 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for August delivery gained $2.40 to $1,582.80 U.S. an ounce.
