Stocks in the news: General Electric, Bank of America, Google

Some of the companies making headlines today:

General Electric's (GE)continued to get hit by its financial unit this quarter as well as profit fell 44 percent, but still managed to beat estimates. This outweighed signs of improvement in its other divisions that make heavy machinery and other industrial equipment. GE's overall revenue fell 20 percent, more than projections. Shares fell 2.5 percent ahead of the bell.

Bank of America Corp. (BAC) said Friday it lost $2.24 billion, or 26 cents per share, in the third quarter as loan losses kept rising, providing further evidence that consumers are still struggling to pay their bills. But results were aided by profit from investment bank Merrill Lynch, including income from bond, stock and currency trading. The loss was better than the 21 cents forecast by analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. Shares dropped over 5 percent in pre-market trading.