US STOCKS-Wall St slips on banks, GE; Google lifts Nasdaq

                                

                                
 * Financials, GE threaten rally
                                
 * Bernanke speech points to more easing
                                
 * Google jumps after revs blow past estimates
                                
 * Indexes: Dow off 0.3 pct, S&P off 0.1 pct, Nasdaq up 0.6
                                
 * For up-to-the-minute market news see [STXNEWS/US]
  (Updates to early trading)
                                
By Chuck Mikolajczak
                                
 NEW YORK, Oct 15 (Reuters) - The Dow and S&P 500 slipped 
on Friday as weakness in financial stocks and disappointing
results from GE overshadowed a speech by U.S. Federal Reserve
Chairman Ben Bernanke pointing to more monetary easing.
                                
 Financials declined on concerns the widening foreclosure
crisis could not only affect corporate profits but spread to
credit markets and the overall economy.
                                
 The KBW bank index <.BKX> dropped 2.1 percent and fell for
the third straight day. JP Morgan Chase & Co <JPM.N> slid 4.2
percent to $37.11, while Bank of America Corp <BAC.N> hit a new
52-week low of $11.74 before easing to $12.01, off 4.7
percent.
                                
 "The (financial) sector is under pressure with all this
uncertainty surrounding the foreclosure issue and whether or
not the banks could move houses off their books and move on.
This has been an issue that we kept under the rug for a while.
But it is now brought back to the front," said John Canally,
investment strategist at LPL Financial in Boston.
                                
 General Electric Co <GE.N> fell 4.9 percent to $16.33 after
its revenue came in below estimates on slack demand for heavy
equipment, even as profits from continuing operations increased
for the second straight quarter. [ID:nN15165353]
                                
 "When GE came out with its numbers and sales were squishy,
the truth is it was a disappointment," said Terry Morris,
senior vice president at National Penn Investors Trust Co in
Reading, Pennsylvania.
                                
 The weakness in GE and financials erased initial gains
coming after Bernanke said high unemployment and low inflation
pointed to a need for further monetary easing. He said that
policymakers were still deciding how aggressive to be. For
details, see [ID:nN15187998]
                                
 The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> dropped 36.67
points, or 0.33 percent, to 11,057.90. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> shed 1.22 points, or 0.10 percent, to
1,172.59. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> gained 13.85
points, or 0.57 percent, to 2,449.23.
                                
 Markets have rallied in recent weeks, with the S&P 500 up
11.6 percent since Sept. 1.
                                
 Google Inc <GOOG.O> boosted the Nasdaq, surging nearly 10
percent to $593.75, one day after net revenues surged 25
percent in the third quarter, blowing past Wall Street targets.
The AMEX Interactive Week Internet index <.IIX> gained 1.2
percent. [ID:nN14187391]
  (Additional reporting by Angela Moon; editing by Jeffrey
Benkoe)