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1st LD Writethru: U.S. stocks end lower amid data, earnings

Xinhua, October 31, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks closed lower Friday as investors digested economic data and quarterly earnings reports.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 92.26 points, or 0.52 percent, to 17,663.54. The S&P 500 lost 10.05 points, or 0.48 percent, to 2,079.36. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 20.53 points, or 0.40 percent, to 5,053.75.

U.S. consumers' personal income and spending data came out slightly lower than expected. In September, the two figures increased 0.1 percent, respectively, according to the Commerce Department.

The price index for personal consumption expenditure, a gauge for the inflation level favored by the Federal Reserve, decreased 0.1 percent in September, following a decline of less than 0.1 percent in August.

"It will be difficult for the Fed to justify rate hikes at a time when income, consumption, and inflation growth are trending lower, leaving a December rate hike less likely than prior to this release," said Jay Morelock, an economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

Meanwhile, the final reading of consumer sentiment index published by Thomson Reuters/ University of Michigan came in at 90.0 for October, missing market consensus of 92.5.

On the earnings front, shares of Exxon Mobil Corp. rose 0.62 percent to 82.74 U.S. dollars apiece Friday after the company's quarterly earnings surpassed market estimates but revenues disappointed earlier expectations.

The energy giant announced estimated the third-quarter earnings of 4.2 billion dollars, or 1.01 dollars per diluted share, compared with 8.1 billion dollars, or 1.89 dollars per diluted share a year earlier.

Shares of LinkedIn Corp. spiked 11.00 percent to 240.87 dollars apiece after the release of the company's much-better-than-expected quarterly results. The professional online network also gave a strong full-year and fourth-quarter earnings forecast.

Latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the third quarter of 2015 are expected to decline 1.0 percent year on year, while revenue growth is forecast to decrease 3.6 percent.

Despite Friday's decline, all three major indices witnessed their best monthly gains in four years, with the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq soaring 8.5 percent, 8.3 percent and 9.4 percent, respectively. Endit