US stocks dip as Amazon, Visa weigh on

 U.S. stocks lost ground Friday to end the week mixed, as disappointing earnings from bellwether companies Amazon and Visa dampened market sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 123.23 points, or 0.72 percent, to 16,960.57. The S&P 500 lost 9.64 points, or 0.48 percent, to 1,978.34. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 22.54 points, or 0.50 percent, to 4,449.56.
The market opened lower and remained in red territory as the pair of earnings reports released late Thursday cast a shadow on the ongoing earnings season that has performed better than expected generally so far.
Amazon.com Inc. late Thursday reported its second-quarter revenue that matched market consensus but its quarterly loss of 27 cents per share came in larger than expected, nearly double market expectations for a loss of 15 cents. In response, the e-commerce giant's shares slumped 9.65 percent to 324.01 U.S. dollars apiece.
Visa shares dipped 3.58 percent to 214.77 dollars a share, weighing down the blue-chip Dow, as the credit card company cut its revenue forecast for the year. However, Visa reported better- than-expected fiscal third quarter results, with its net income rising 11 percent over the prior year and net operating revenue increasing 5 percent.
In the week, lingering geopolitical tensions in Ukraine and Gaza continued to weigh on Wall Street which had moved back and forth.
The Dow lost 0.8 percent for the week, and the S&P 500 edged up 0.01 percent while the Nasdaq rose 0.4 percent.
On the economic front, new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods increased 0.7 percent in June, boosted by demand for transportation equipment, said the Commerce Department Friday. The increase was larger than market expectations.