NEW YORK, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street ended mixed Friday as investors digested disappointing results from technology companies and upbeat report from Citigroup.
Citigroup, the largest U.S. bank, posted a 2.5 billion U.S. dollars second-quarter loss due to write-downs tied to deteriorating credit markets. But it was still better than analysts' forecasts. The report further helped relieve some worries about the health of the banking sector.
However, Google Inc., Merrill Lynch and Microsoft Corp. had all posted quarterly results that missed analysts' expectations after the closing bell on Thursday.
Google posted second-quarter profit of 3.92 dollars a share. Analysts estimated 4.73 dollars on average. Microsoft reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit jumped 42 percent. However, it missed Wall Street projections. The two giants were traded lower in the morning and weighed on technology-heavy Nasdaq.
In addition, Merrill Lynch, the third-biggest securities firm, reported a wider-than-estimated loss on 9.7 billion dollars of credit-market write-downs during the second quarter. It also sold its stake in Bloomberg LP, and will sell its stake in First Data Services Inc., to raise capital.
The Dow Jones Industrial rose 49.91, or 0.44 percent, to 11,496.57. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 0.36, or 0.03 percent, to1,260.68, and the technology-focused Nasdaq composite index dropped 29.52, or 1.28 percent, to 2,282.78.
