NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Some static about General Electric and Citigroup's weaker-than-expected earnings sent the Dow Jones industrial average sinking in the first hours of trading Monday.

The Nasdaq composite index was closer to breakeven, aided by positive developments involving two tech leaders traded on the New York Stock Exchange: Corning and AOL Time Warner.

At 10:57 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 67.95 to 10,122.87. The Nasdaq composite index rose 2.89 to 1,759.08. The Standard & Poor's 500 lost 5.91 to 1,105.10.

General Electric (GE: down $1.70 to $31.85, Research, Estimates) continued to trade lower on the Dow following last week's declines. The New York Times, in its Sunday edition, quoted fund manager Robert Olstein as saying he expects the conglomerate's stock to "stumble before the year is out."

Dow component Citigroup (C: down $1.12 to $45.98, Research, Estimates) reported improved first-quarter profit that nonetheless missed expectations. Countering Financial services company Bank of America (BAC: down $1.09 to $68.96, Research, Estimates) reported first-quarter profits that topped estimates by 4 cents per share, but rival and

"Tis the season to report earnings, so we're going to be susceptible to what companies say on a day-to-day, minute-to-minute basis -- not just what they say now, but looking forward," said Bryan Piskarowski, market commentator at Prudential Financial.

On the positive side, optical fiber maker Corning (GLW: up $0.11 to $6.96, Research, Estimates) said its first-quarter loss would be 10 cents a share, narrower than the 17-cents a share loss analysts are expecting.

"Corning provides a little strength to a very beleaguered sector, but the Street has not been expecting much out of the telecoms. Citigroup was a little weak, but Bank or America evens it out," Piskarowski said.

Media company and CNN/Money parent AOL Time Warner (AOL: up $1.35 to $21.45, Research, Estimates) got a boost from an article in Barron's, in which a hedge-fund manager cited attractive valuation now that the stock has been so depleted.

European markets were higher at midday on strength in techs and telecoms, while Asian stocks finished mostly higher Monday. The dollar was little changed versus the euro and lower against the yen.

Treasury prices were modestly lower in early trade, pushing the ten-year note yield up to 5.16 percent.

Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, decliners beat advancers 10-to-7 as 337 million shares changed hands. On the Nasdaq, losers edged winners 5-to-4 as 419 million shares traded.

Other tech names in active trade included No. 1 chipmaker Intel (INTC: up $0.06 to $28.45, Research, Estimates) and No. 1 Unix server maker Sun Microsystems (SUNW: up $0.05 to $8.02, Research, Estimates), both up ahead of the release of their quarterly results, due out later in the week.

Roughly one-third of the S&P 500 is expected to report results this week. Analysts expect almost a 10 percent decline from the same period one year earlier.

"To an extent, the market has built in a rebound. Whether it's too soon remains to be seen," Joe Kalinowski, equity strategist at Thomson Financial, told CNNfn's Before Hours.