US stocks inch lower on Europe worries; tech stocks sink

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are down Friday as investors take a more cautious approach after a report said the European Central Bank will make a decision about reducing its economic stimulus in October.

General Electric tumbled after the company disappointed investors by saying it expects to reach only the low end of its annual profit forecast.

GE said its power unit struggled in the second quarter and low oil prices are also hurting its business.

[...] falling was oilfield services company Baker Hughes, which is combined with GE's oil and gas unit this month and is now mostly owned by GE.

The ECB has helped prop up the European economy and stock markets by buying government bonds and keeping interest rates at zero, and investors are nervous about what will happen as its policies change.

Software giant Microsoft's fourth-quarter profit and sales surpassed Wall Street estimates as the company posted another round of strong results from its cloud computing business.

Uniform rentals company Cintas came out ahead of analyst estimates in its fiscal fourth quarter, and it forecast a much larger annual profit than investors expected.

The stock has plunged this week, and it's lost more than half its value since October 2015 as the restaurant chain dealt with the fallout of an E. coli outbreak that damaged its sales.

Brent crude, the standard for international oil prices, shed $1.21, or 2.5 percent, to $48.09 a barrel in London.

Credit card issuer Capital One Financial leaped $6.48, or 84 percent, to $87.49 after it beat Wall Street estimates in the second quarter.