GE fall

General Electric Co. reported its first decline in quarterly profit since 2003, missing analysts’ estimates with a 12 percent drop in earnings.GE fell as much as 12 percent, the most since 1987. General Electric was forced to cut the value of some securities in the last two weeks of March as capital markets seized up, Immelt said. The health-care unit also trailed expectations. The stock dropped $4.06, or 11 percent, to $32.69 at 9:54 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The U.S. may be near a recession because of a slump in housing prices and a tightening of credit markets.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Credit Suisse Group both cut GE’s rating to “neutral” today. Fourteen analysts recommend buying the stock, and six suggest holding it. None recommend selling. Before today’s earnings announcement, 16 analysts rated the stock a “buy” and four rated it “hold.”