* Futures point to lower open
* GE, Bank of America earnings disappoint
* Stronger U.S. dollar set to pressure stocks
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click []
(Adds upcoming data releases)
By Edward Krudy
NEW YORK, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Wall Street was set to drop at
the open on Friday after disappointing quarterly results from
Dow components General Electric Co <GE.N> and Bank of America
Corp <BAC.N> dragged stock futures lower.
GE's weaker-than-expected revenue and Bank of America's
loss show U.S. businesses and consumers continue to struggle as
the economy slowly recovers from the worst recession in
decades.
The results were also a setback for investors wowed by some
strong corporate earnings earlier in the week. Friday's
earnings set the stage for profit taking after a strong run
this week that saw major indexes hit new yearly highs and
pushed the Dow industrials above 10,000.
To see GE's revenue down so much "really says something
about the economy, and really has to make you question what
kind of recovery is taking place here," said Paul Mendelsohn,
chief investment strategist at Windham Financial Services in
Charlotte, Vermont.
"It's not a good morning to say the least," he said.
Bank of America's loss stemmed from consumer credit losses,
and it blamed "continued weakness in the U.S. and global
economies and stress on the consumer." GE, although beating
earnings estimates, reported-lower than-expected revenue as
sales fell across all its diverse businesses. For more,
see[] and []
Bank of America's shares fell 5.4 percent to $17.12, and GE
dropped 2.6 percent to $16.35 in premarket trade.
S&P 500 futures <SPc1> were down 6 points and were below
fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into
account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the
contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures <DJc1> were down
45 points, while Nasdaq 100 futures <NDc1> fell 6.50 points.
"Although it is still very early into earnings season, we're
seeing that the positive momentum is rapidly diminishing," said
Hans-Juergen Delp, chief strategist at Commerzbank in
Frankfurt.
Safe-haven U.S. treasuries rose after the results. The
dollar, which has traded inversely to stocks, with equities
rising as the greenback fell, rose, sparking profit-taking in
currencies that earlier hit multi-month highs against the U.S.
unit.
The U.S. dollar rose 0.43 percent against a basket of
currencies <.DXY>. That and demand concerns weighed on
commodity prices.
"The dollar is up, that generally causes a flow out of
equities," said Tom Schrader, managing director, U.S. equities
at Stifel Nicolaus Capital Markets in Baltimore.
Google Inc <GOOG.O> reported robust results that beat
expectations late on Thursday, soothing concerns over the
health of the technology sector. Google's stock rose more than
3 percent in premarket trade.
International Business Machines Corp also <IBM.N> sounded
an optimistic note as it forecast a return to revenue growth in
the fourth-quarter, but investors drove the stock down 4.5
percent in premarket trade.
Economic data due later in the day includes the
Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers preliminary
sentiment index for October, expected to stay even with late
September's reading of 73.5.
(Editing by Padraic Cassidy)
