NEW YORK, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street edged lower in early trading Friday, as disappointing results from several other big companies offset a better-than-expected earnings report from Citigroup.
Citigroup, the largest U.S. bank, posted a 2.5-billion-U.S.-dollar second-quarter loss due to writedowns 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 allposted quarterly results that missed analysts' expectations after the closing bell on Thursday.
Google posted a second-quarter profit of 3.92 dollars a share. Analysts estimated 4.73 dollars on average. Google dropped in early trading and weighed on the technology-heavy Nasdaq index.
Merrill Lynch, the third-largest securities firm, reported a larger-than-estimated loss on 9.7 billion dollars of credit-market writedowns during the second-quarter. It also sold its stake in Bloomberg LP, and would sell its stake in First Data Services Inc.,to raise capital.
Microsoft reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit jumped 42 percent. However, it missed Wall Street projections.
The Dow Jones fell 26.06 to 11,420.60. Broader indexes moved lower. The Standard & Poor's 500 index dipped 4.63 to 1,255.69; and the Nasdaq dropped 27.96 to 2,284.34.
