MarketView for April 20

Summary

It was a mixed day on Wall Street on Friday as stocks tried to move higher but were held back by declines in banks and technology shares that helped to bring the major equity indexes down from their day's highs as solid earnings from McDonald's, General Electric and Microsoft placed some momentum under the day’s trading activity. The Nasdaq ended the day in red ink, due in no small part to SanDisk which chalked up an 11.3 percent drop in its share price after the company’s second revenue warning in as many quarters.

Apple’s more than 2.4 percent fall also weighed, as its shares continue to struggle ahead of earnings next week. Apple posted back-to-back weekly declines of more than 4 percent for the first time since late December 2008.

As earnings season moves into high gear, the first wave of corporate results has been substantially stronger than expected. About 81 percent of S&P 500 companies that have reported so far have beat expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The impressive rate of beats comes amid lowered expectations, but the earnings have helped stocks regain their footing after a recent pullback on less-than-inspiring U.S. economic figures and renewed worry about Europe's debt crisis. Some of the day’s weakness was due in part to caution ahead of an early indicator of China's industrial activity, expected late Sunday.

For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.4 percent, the S&P 500 was up 0.6 percent and the Nasdaq fell 0.4 percent, down for a third week running.

Bank of America fell 4.7 percent to $8.36 after a downgrade from CLSA analyst Mike Mayo. The shares led declines in the S&P financials group.

Microsoft closed up 4.5 percent at $32.42 and was the lead driver of the Dow on Friday, a day after its profit report exceeded Street expectations. General Electric's results drove buying in industrial shares. The company said it expects double-digit earnings for the year, which helped the company’s shares rise 1.1 percent to $19.36.

Honeywell reported higher quarterly earnings and raised its 2012 earnings forecast. The shares ended the day up 2.4 percent to close at $59.39. McDonald's edged up 0.7 percent to $95.94 after the world's No. 1 fast-food chain reported higher quarterly earnings, helped by strong domestic sales.

About 6.68 billion shares changed hands on the three major equity exchanges, just shy of the 6.78 billion share daily average so far this year.