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 (GE) third-quarter results, offsetting strength in other businesses and pushing profits lower. GE shares were off 2.4%.
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