NEW YORK, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks dropped sharply on Friday on weak earnings, hitting the worst trading day since June, with the Dow falling over 200.
When the market closed, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 205.35 points, or 1.52 percent, to 13,343.59. The Standard & Poor' s 500 Index dropped 24.15 points, or 1.66 percent, to 1,433.19. The Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 67.25 points, or 2.19 percent, to 3,005.62. The CBOE Volatility Index, widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, jumped more than 13 percent to above 17.
Friday's earnings were quite disappointing. McDonald's Corp reported a 3.5 percent profit decline for its third-quarter earnings.
The world's largest fast food chain's sales also established the slowest pace in more than nine years, because of a weaker global economy and strong dollar. Its net income was 1.46 billion dollars, earning 1.43 dollars per share. Meanwhile, General Electric Co. posted disappointing earnings, showing its net income climbed 49 percent to 3.49 billion dollars, or 33 cents, from 2.34 billion dollars, or 22 cents, a year earlier.
Technology shares continued dropping as a series IT companies posted weaker-than-expectation earnings. After Intel, IBM and Microsoft, Google also reported a earning report widely missing analysts' expectations.
Friday was the 25th anniversary of Black Monday, Oct. 19, 1987, when the Dow lost 22.6 percent in a single trading session, driving global equity market falling down for quite a while.
As for other market, crude prices plunged on Friday as dollar strengthened on concerns about Spanish debt problems.
Light, sweet crude for November delivery fell 2.05 dollars, or 2.23 percent to settle at 90.05 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. For this week, it fell 1.81 dollars, or 1.97 percent.
Brent crude for December delivery fell sharply by 2.28 dollars, or 2.02 percent to close at 110.14 dollars a barrel, posting a big weekly decline of 4.48 dollars, or 3.91 percent.
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