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US STOCKS-Techs sink as Google, Microsoft miss the mark, Dow up

Fri Jul 18, 2008 8:00pm EDT
 
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* Nasdaq down 1.3 pct, Dow up 0.4 pct, S&P up 0.03 pct

* Google, Microsoft slide after earnings disappoint

* Citigroup shares soar on smaller-than-expected loss

(Updates close with indexes' weekly percentage gains updated to two decimal places and more on oil's biggest weekly drop in dollar terms, latest Nasdaq volume)

By Kristina Cooke

NEW YORK, July 18 (Reuters) - Technology stocks fell on Friday and drove the Nasdaq down 1 percent on disappointing earnings from Google (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Microsoft(MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), while Citigroup's smaller-than-expected loss pushed up the Dow and helped keep the broader market near the unchanged mark.

Nevertheless, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq snapped a six-week losing streak. The Dow snapped four weeks of losses as financial stocks rallied after top U.S. government officials outlined a plan to shore up mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae (FNM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and the SEC announced rules to curb short selling.

Reassuring quarterly results from key banks also fed the week's rally. Citigroup capped a series of closely watched scorecards from Wells Fargo (WFC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) that beat analysts' estimates.

On top of that, the biggest weekly drop ever in oil prices also gave investors a renewed appetite for equities.  Continued...

 

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