NEW YORK: Mixed earnings reports -- with General Electric and McDonald's beating expectations, while Caterpillar fell short -- held back US markets Friday, though Microsoft gave Nasdaq a solid boost.
Caterpillar's poor quarter helped knock the Dow Jones Industrial Average off 43.25 points (0.34 percent) to 12,681.16 in closing trades.
The broader S&P 500 added 1.22 points (0.09 percent) to 1,345.02, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 24.40 points (0.86 percent) to stand at 2,858.83.
Industrial bellwether Caterpillar's disappointing quarterly report sent its stock plummeting 6.0 percent, dragging down the index of the Dow's 30 blue chips with it.
The market continued to operate under the shadow of the political stalemate over raising the US debt ceiling, with the August 2 deadline -- after which the country could be forced to default on its debt -- moving closer.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011
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