Egypt violence, poor earnings hit US stocks

NEW YORK - US STOCKS dropped sharply on Friday as Egypt's leaders failed to stem mounting protests and blue chips like Ford, Microsoft and Amazon turned in disappointing results. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 166.13 (1.39 per cent) over the day to 11,823.70 by the close, and the broader S&P 500 index pared 23.20 points (1.79 per cent) at 1,276.34.