NEW YORK, July 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks traded lower on Friday as investors continued to watch corporate earnings reports.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 31.71 points, or 0.15 percent, to 21,580.07. The S&P 500 lost 0.91 points, or 0.04 percent, to 2,472.54. The Nasdaq Composite Index erased 2.25 points, or 0.04 percent, to 6,387.75.
Shares of General Electric (GE) slipped nearly 5 percent to its lowest level in 19 months in the morning session on Friday after the company reported a 12-percent drop in revenue from a year earlier.
In its latest quarterly report, GE also said its net profit slumped 58 percent to 15 cents a share from 36 cents a share a year earlier.
With no major data came out on Friday, investors also kept an eye on oil prices.
Oil prices tumbled over 2 percent Friday after data showed rising crude oil supply from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Tanker-tracking firm Petro-Logistics said Friday OPEC oil output was set to rise by 145,000 barrels a day this month to more than 33 million barrels a day, according to media reports.
The news came before OPEC and non-OPEC countries' meeting in Russia next week. Major oil producers will discuss compliance of agreed production cuts.
Next week will also be the busiest one this earnings season, with about 170 S&P 500 components scheduled to report. U.S. stocks touched record highs earlier this week as market sentiment was lifted by better-than-expected corporate quarterly reports.
