Stocks Opened Lower on Global Worries

U.S. stocks opened lower on Friday as a global rush out of stocks and emerging-markets currencies deepened, while earnings offered little respite to investors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 106.86 points, or 0.66%, at 16090.49. The S&P 500 was off 14.25 points, or 0.78%, at 1,814.21. The Nasdaq Composite was down 37.94 points, or 0.90% at 4,180.93.

Procter & Gamble Co.’s fiscal second-quarter earnings fell 16% as the world’s largest consumer-products company reported sales that were nearly flat with a year ago. P&G reported a profit of $3.43 billion, or $1.18 a share, down from $4.06 billion, or $1.39 a share, a year earlier.

Honeywell International Inc. (HON) reported its fourth-quarter profit rose to $947 million, or $1.19 a share, from $251 million, or 32 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose to $10.39 billion, from $9.58 billion a year earlier.

Kimberly-Clark Corp. KMB +3.13% said Friday its fourth-quarter profit jumped to $539 million, or $1.40 a share, from $267 million, or 68 cents a share, a year earlier.

Microsoft Corp. said its fiscal second-quarter profit climbed 2.8%, bolstered by strong demand for the company’s new Xbox videogame console. For the fiscal second quarter ended Dec. 31, revenue rose 14% to $24.52 billion. Net income climbed to $6.56 billion, or 78 cents a share, compared with $6.38 billion, or 76 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter.