* Financials, GE threaten rally
* Bernanke speech points to more easing
* Google jumps after revs blow past estimates
* Indexes: Dow off 0.3 pct, S&P off 0.1 pct, Nasdaq up 0.6
* For up-to-the-minute market news see [STXNEWS/US] (Updates to early trading)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Oct 15 (Reuters) - The Dow and S&P 500 slipped on Friday as weakness in financial stocks and disappointing results from GE overshadowed a speech by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke pointing to more monetary easing.
Financials declined on concerns the widening foreclosure crisis could not only affect corporate profits but spread to credit markets and the overall economy.
The KBW bank index <.BKX> dropped 2.1 percent and fell for
the third straight day. JP Morgan Chase & Co
"The (financial) sector is under pressure with all this uncertainty surrounding the foreclosure issue and whether or not the banks could move houses off their books and move on. This has been an issue that we kept under the rug for a while. But it is now brought back to the front," said John Canally, investment strategist at LPL Financial in Boston.
General Electric Co
"When GE came out with its numbers and sales were squishy, the truth is it was a disappointment," said Terry Morris, senior vice president at National Penn Investors Trust Co in Reading, Pennsylvania.
The weakness in GE and financials erased initial gains coming after Bernanke said high unemployment and low inflation pointed to a need for further monetary easing. He said that policymakers were still deciding how aggressive to be. For details, see [ID:nN15187998]
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> dropped 36.67 points, or 0.33 percent, to 11,057.90. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> shed 1.22 points, or 0.10 percent, to 1,172.59. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> gained 13.85 points, or 0.57 percent, to 2,449.23.
Markets have rallied in recent weeks, with the S&P 500 up 11.6 percent since Sept. 1.
Google Inc