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CNBC ON DIGG

Dow Down Over 100 as Consumer Mood Sours

Published: Friday, 16 Oct 2009 | 10:06 AM ET

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By: CNBC.com

Stocks skidded at the open Friday as disappointing results from Bank of America and General Electric eclipsed strong results from big techs.

They slid further — with the Dow down 100 points — after a report showed a surprise drop in consumer sentiment.

Major U.S. Indexes

.DJIA

.NCOMP

.SPX

This came after the Dow finished above 10,000 for two straight days, closing at 10,062.94 on Thursday.

A gauge of consumer sentiment dropped to 69.4 in a mid-October reading from 73.5 at the end of September. Economists surveyed by Reuters had expected the measure to rise to 73.8.

In the day's other economic news, industrial production rose in September for a third straight month. The gauge rose 0.7 percent; economists surveyed had expected a more modest 0.2-percent increase.

General Electric [GE Loading... () ] (GE is CNBC's parent company) beat analysts' earnings target but missed on revenue.

FOR INVESTORS

Bank of America [BAC Loading... () ] also disappointed, reporting a wider-than-expected loss as an improvement at its Merrill Lynch investment-banking unit was offset by consumer-credit problems.

Bank of America made news late yesterday when it revealed that CEO Ken Lewis, who is retiring at year's end, has agreed to give up his salary and bonus for 2009.

Techs rocked earnings, with three companies beating after the bell yesterday.

Google [GOOG Loading... () ] beat on both profit and revenue, and in fact logged its strongest sequential revenue growth in more than a year, as advertising began to improve. Shares rose more than 3 percent.

IBM [IBM Loading... () ] topped expectations and raised its outlook as the company focused on higher-margin software and services. But shares fell as investors locked in some profits.

Advanced Micro Devices [AMD Loading... () ] lost money during the quarter but beat on revenue. Shares fell more than 6 percent.

This came a few days after rival chip maker Intel [INTC Loading... () ] predicted that PC sales would grow by the end of the year. Even Intel shares were down today, off more than 2 percent.