US markets sink on earnings; Nasdaq down 2.2 pct

Apple, the largest listed company by market capitalization, sank 3.60 percent.

Shares of Microsoft, which reported late Thursday that it had rebounded from a first-time-ever loss the previous quarter but that revenues still dropped significantly, lost 2.9 percent.

And industrial heavyweight General Electric also helped drag the Dow lower with a 3.4 percent loss, after cutting its forecast for the coming months.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 205.43 points (1.52 percent) at 13,343.51.

The broad-based S&P 500 lost 24.15 (1.66 percent) at 1,433.19, while the Nasdaq Composite gave up 67.25 points (2.19 percent) at 3,005.62.

"Today was all about earnings," said Schaeffer's Investment Research analyst Ryan Detrick. "The reality is we're in the second inning and earnings have stunk."

Slower revenues rather than profit disappointments in earnings reports grabbed the focus of investors.

McDonald's was the biggest loser on the Dow, giving up 4.5 percent. The global fast-food king reported lower profits in the third quarter and said worldwide sales were slipping this month.

"Hard to find a Happy Meal in Q3 for McDonald's," quipped a Citi analyst in a note on the earnings.

Chipotle Mexican Grill meanwhile plunged 15 percent after missing earnings targets despite a 20 percent profit gain, and predicting flat-to-lower sales for 2013.

Google, which inadvertently released its quarterly report in the middle of trade Thursday and saw its share price crash more than 10 percent on the results, lost another 1.9 percent.

The one bright spot in the Dow 30 was Home Depot, which gained 0.2 percent; on the Nasdaq, SanDisk jumped 2.7 percent helped by a 67 percent earnings slide that was nevertheless not as bad as analysts had expected.

Bond prices gained. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell to 1.76 percent from 1.82 percent Thursday, while the 30-year dropped to 2.93 percent from 3.00 percent.

Bond prices move inversely to yields.