US stocks slip but Microsoft surges 5%

New York - US stocks opened slightly lower on Friday, but both Microsoft and McDonald's shares surged on solid earnings reports.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6% to 18 058.53 about five minutes into morning trading.

The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.4% to 2 131.88, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.2% to 5 232.76.

US software colossus Microsoft saw shares jump nearly 5% after late Thursday's better-than-expected profit report due to rising demand for its internet cloud services.

McDonald's shares jumped 2.5% on unexpectedly strong third-quarter results, with sales in overseas markets like Japan and Britain compensating for softness at home.

But sluggish activity in the oil and gas sector weighed on General Electric's third-quarter results, offsetting strength in other businesses and pushing profits lower. GE shares were off 2.4%.