NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. stocks slipped early Wednesday as new geopolitical concerns and continued uncertainty about interest rates trumped some solid earnings.

After 10 minutes of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average (down 60.70 to 10417.40, Charts), the Standard & Poor's 500 (down 6.90 to 1131.21, Charts) index and the Nasdaq composite (down 7.10 to 2025.43, Charts) all fell.

Geopolitical concerns continued to weigh amid the ongoing battle in the Iraqi city of Falluja, while a new slew of corporate reports were released in the United States.

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In the morning's biggest corporate development, cable operator Comcast said it is withdrawing its $48 billion bid for Walt Disney, due to Disney's lack of interest, and that it may look to buy Adelphia. The news lifted Comcast (CMCSA: up $0.60 to $30.64, Research, Estimates) shares and weighed on Dow component Disney (DIS: down $0.36 to $23.82, Research, Estimates).

Comcast also reported a weaker-than-forecast profit.

However, most of the quarterly earnings have been very strong, providing an underlying support for the market.

Boeing (BA: up $0.29 to $43.84, Research, Estimates) reported earnings that rose from a year earlier and topped expectations, as a result of big military sales and interest on a large tax refund. The Dow component and No. 2 jet maker also boosted its 2004 and 2005 profit forecasts.

McDonald's (MCD: up $0.55 to $27.75, Research, Estimates) reported earnings of 40 cents per share late Tuesday, in line with estimates and up from 29 cents a year earlier.

On the downside, Nortel Networks (NT: down $1.53 to $4.11, Research, Estimates) shares tumbled after the company said it fired its CEO and two other top executives amid ongoing investigations into its accounting practices. The telecom company expects a 50 percent drop in 2003 earnings, as part of a broad restatement. It has also delayed the release of its first-quarter 2004 earnings.

Treasury prices fell, pushing the 10-year note yield up to 4.40 percent from 4.38 late Tuesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. The dollar was higher versus the euro and little changed against the yen.

Among commodities markets, Brent crude oil futures fell 43 cents to $33.85 a barrel in London. COMEX gold fell $6.60 to $392.50 an ounce.

In international trade, Asian markets closed lower, while European markets fell at midday there.