IBT Staff Reporter

Wall Street was set to drop at the open on Friday after disappointing quarterly results from Dow components General Electric Co (GE.N) and Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) dragged stock futures lower.

First Horizon National Corp (FHN.N), the largest bank in Tennessee, reported a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss, helped by a 46 percent decrease in provision for bad loans.

Wall Street was set to drop at the open on Friday after disappointing quarterly results from Dow components General Electric Co and Bank of America Corp dragged stock futures lower.

General Electric Co reported a 42 percent drop in profit, as a global economic slump hammered its hefty finance arm and eroded demand for the heavy equipment it manufactures.

The largest U.S. mortgage insurer MGIC Investment Corp (MTG.N) said it may not be able to repay amounts owed under its notes due in 2011, and posted a worse-than-expected third-quarter loss due to an increase in delinquencies.

Britain's top share index was lower at midday on Friday, led by banks after quarterly earnings numbers from Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) and General Electric (GE.N) disappointed.

European equities slipped from one-year highs on Friday as General Electric (GE.N) and Bank of America (BAC.N) results disappointed and hurt momentum that was built after IBM (IBM.N) and Google (GOOG.O) earnings figures.

Canadian consumer prices fell in September from a year earlier due largely to tumbling gasoline prices and while there was other evidence of emerging inflation pressures, it was not expected to be of concern to the Bank of Canada.

Wall Street was set to drop at the open on Friday after disappointing quarterly results from Dow components General Electric Co (GE.N) and Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) dragged stock futures lower.

BofA's Big Loss; GE's Woes; Banks Battle for Fixed Income Supremacy

Wall Street was set to drop at the open on Friday after disappointing quarterly results from Dow components General Electric Co and Bank of America Corp dragged stock futures lower.

French IT services provider Atos Origin (ATOS.PA) confirmed on Friday it was in the race to buy Italian electronic payment company SIA-SSB, but said it still could not provide investors with estimates for 2010 results.

News, details on bond issues in the European markets on Friday:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and the Free Democrats (FDP) are trying to bridge differences on a range of policy issues before finalising their coalition pact by the end of next week.

European shares turned negative on Friday after earnings results from Bank of America (BAC.N) disappointed investors.

Goldman Sachs Group (GS), the former investment bank known for aggressive risk taking, is facing a frontal assault on its traditional dominance of fixed income trading from an unlikely source: commercial bank JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM).

Mattel Inc reported a lower quarterly profit that met Wall Street estimates on Friday, hurt by the weak economy and a dearth of movie-inspired toys.

Facebook's chief operating officer said the social networking company was targeting a bigger ad market than the search ad market that has made Google Inc rich.

GE reported Q3 earnings per share $0.22 on revenue $37.8 billion.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Friday, as investors awaited key earnings reports from conglomerate General Electric and Bank of America .

No. 1 toy maker Mattel Inc reported a lower quarterly profit on Friday, as a weak economic environment pulled down sales of Barbie dolls and Fisher-Price toys.

Asian shares gave up early gains on Friday, with interest rate speculation pressuring assets in South Korea and China, while a bounce in the British pound continued to depress the yen and oil hit a one-year high above $78.

SAIC Motor Corp , China's biggest automaker, is in talks with its partner General Motors to explore new business opportunities that include India, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Friday.

The Obama administration scored its first financial regulation reform victory in months on Thursday when a U.S. congressional committee approved new rules for over-the-counter derivatives.

Japan Airlines Corp shares slid 12 percent to a record low on Friday as investors suggested bankruptcy may be an option for Asia's biggest airline by revenue, even as the government again pledged to support the troubled carrier.

U.S. President Barack Obama fired back on Thursday at critics who say he has few accomplishments of note in his nine months in office and declared he was just getting started.

A tentative plan to end Honduras' political crisis has not yet been agreed to by ousted President Manuel Zelaya and the country's de facto leader but a negotiator for the leftist toppled in a coup said on Thursday a deal looked closer.

Billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros said on Thursday that the world's current currency arrangements are fraught with danger and that the world needs global regulation.

U.S. securities and futures regulators are considering a joint enforcement squad to investigate and root out fraud in the markets, two sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.