US stocks drop on mixed earnings reports

US stocks fell Thursday for a second day in a row amid mixed earnings reports and gloomy sentiment over recent economic indicators. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 81.45 (0.56 percent) to 14,537.14. The broad-based S&P 500 fell 10.40 (0.67 percent) to 1,541.61, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gave up 38.31 (1.20 percent) to 3,166.36. The losses followed disappointing economic reports out of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and the Conference Board. Sentiment had already been downcast after the International Monetary Fund slashed its growth forecasts earlier in the week. "Stocks have been under pressure throughout the session as investors respond to disappointing economic reports and mixed corporate earnings," said Wells Fargo in a market note. Investors are also skittish after some earnings disappointments in recent days. "There is clearly some positioning going on," said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist of trading firm BTIG. "People are just not comfortable right now." Many technology equities suffered losses. Apple, which Wednesday ceded to ExxonMobil its distinction as the company with the biggest market capitalization, dropped 2.7 percent. Google gave up 2.1 percent, IBM lost 1.2 percent and Microsoft slipped 0.1 percent. Online merchandiser eBay sank 5.9 percent after reporting higher profits but signaling that second-quarter results would drop below expectations. Morgan Stanley fell 5.4 percent after a mixed earnings report that showed a big drop in fixed income and commodities sales and trading revenue. Dow component UnitedHealth Group dipped 3.8 percent after reporting a 14.1 percent drop in year-over-year earnings. Other health care companies also fell, including Humana, which dropped 3.1 percent, and Aetna, which was down 2.0 percent. Dow component Verizon jumped 2.8 percent after posting a 24.3 percent rise in year-over-year quarterly earnings. The company said it expects continued growth in free cash flow and earnings throughout 2013. PepsiCo rose 3.0 percent, despite reporting a five percent drop in quarterly earnings. The company expects to return $6.4 billion to shareholders in dividends and share repurchases. Rail company Union Pacific jumped 4.0 percent after reporting an 11 percent increase in net income. Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 1.69 percent from 1.70 percent late Wednesday, while the 30-year yield dropped to 2.86 percent from 2.89 percent. Bond prices move inversely to yields.