Friday's early afternoon trade: Apple, bond concerns lead Wall Street slide

US stocks fell on Friday, as Apple led a decline in technology stocks on concerns about weak iPhone demand and investors worried about the impact of a rise in US bond yields. Apple fell 3.8 percent and was the biggest drag on the major indexes after Morgan Stanley estimated weak demand for its latest iPhones, adding to fears raised by Taiwan Semiconductor of softer smartphone sales.
Microsoft, Intel and Cisco were the other big decliners, leading to a 1.6 percent drop on the S&P technology index, its third straight day of decline. "There's the Apple news and there maybe some nervousness coming into the upcoming earnings reports," said Daniel Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust Co in Atlanta.
Alphabet, Facebook, Intel and Microsoft are among the major technology companies reporting next week.
First-quarter profit at S&P 500 companies are expected to have recorded their strongest gain in seven years. Of the 87 companies that have reported so far, 79.3 percent have topped profit expectations, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. General Electric jumped 3.4 percent after it posted quarterly results that topped estimates and affirmed its 2018 forecasts.
Schlumberger dropped 1.9 percent after the oilfield services provider's profit just scraped past estimates.
At 01:03 pm ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 213.67 points, or 0.87 percent, at 24,451.22, the S&P 500 was down 23.97 points, or 0.89 percent, at 2,669.16 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 91.82 points, or 1.27 percent, at 7,146.23.