Google, IBM earnings send US market lower

NEW YORK, Apr 18 (AFP) : US stocks fell modestly in early trade Thursday as poor earnings from Google and IBM set the tone despite solid quarterly reports from Goldman Sachs, General Electric and other firms.
The weak sentiment was also evident in the overnight IPO of Sina Weibo, the Chinese microblogging service, which was undersubscribed at the low end of its pricing range, raising $286 million, $94 million less than the company's best hopes.
Thirty minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 31.72 points (0.19 per cent) at 16,393.13.
The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 2.82 (0.15 per cent) to 1,859.49, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 7.67 (0.19 per cent) at 4,078.55.
Google fell 4.0 per cent after reporting late Wednesday a 32 per cent rise in profits in the first quarter. Earnings per share came in at $6.27, below expectations of $6.40, and revenues were also short of analyst forecasts.
Dow member IBM (-3.8 per cent) meanwhile reported a 21 per cent slump in earnings as it struggles to build its position in cloud services as hardware sales weaken.
Still on the Dow, Goldman gained 1.2 per cent as earnings per share beat estimates handily despite a 10 per cent fall in earnings, and GE was up 1.8 per cent after reporting gains in its two largest divisions, aviation and power and water.