Goldman, Citi: Thursday's Headlines

(Updated with earnings from Citigroup, Harley-Davidson and Charles Schwab, as well as economic data.)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Here are the top stock market headlines for the morning of Thursday, Oct. 15, 2009.

Thursday's Earnings Roundup

• Goldman Sachs (GS Quote) posted third-quarter earnings of $5.25 a share, blowing past the Thomson Reuters average estimate of $4.24 a share. Revenue declined 10.1% from a year ago to $12.37 billion, although that number also exceeded analysts' expectations. On the negative side, Goldman said net revenue from its investment banking division was 31% below year-ago levels and 38% lower than the second quarter of 2009. The bank also said it is seeing improving conditions and evidence of stabilization, even growth, across a number of sectors.
• Citigroup (C Quote) reported a third-quarter loss of 27 cents a share, which was narrower than the Thomson Reuters average estimate for a loss of 38 cents a share. Revenue jumped 25.4% from a year ago to $20.4 billion, coming in slightly ahead of expectations. Citigroup said that results included $8 billion in net credit loss and $802 million for a build in loan loss reserves, which was down from $3.9 billion in the second quarter. The bank added that the allowance for loan losses increased to $36.4 billion, or 5.9% of total loans.
• Nokia (NOK Quote) swung to a third-quarter loss of 559 million euros, hit by a 908-million euro writedown from its networks unit. Excluding the writedown, Nokia said it earned 0.17 euro, better than the Thomson Reuters consensus for earnings of 0.13 euro. Revenue dropped 20% from a year ago as mobile device volumes dropped. Nokia said it expects its mobile device market share in the fourth quarter to be approximately at the same level sequentially.
• Southwest Air (LUV Quote) notched a third-quarter adjusted profit of three cents a share, beating the Thomson Reuters average estimate of two cents a share. That number excludes one-time items including a $27 million charge relating to Southwest's early-out program as well as a $12 million loss relating to non-cash mark-to-market and other items. Revenue fell nearly 8% from a year ago to $2.67 billion, coming in slightly above the $2.63 billion consensus.
• Baxter (BAX Quote) reported third-quarter adjusted earnings of 98 cents a share, topping the Thomson Reuters average estimate by a penny. Revenue dipped to $3.14 billion from $3.15 billion in the year-ago quarter, coming up shy of the $3.19 billion consensus. Baxter also offered in-line earnings guidance for the fourth quarter and full-year 2009.
• Harley-Davidson (HOG Quote) said it earned 11 cents a share in the third quarter, coming in below the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate for a profit of 21 cents a share. Revenue dropped 21.1% from a year ago to $1.12 billion, matching analysts' forecasts. Harley also narrowed its forecast for full-year shipments, now expecting to ship 222,000 to 227,000 Harley-Davidson motorcycles to dealers, including 35,000 to 40,000 during the fourth quarter.
• Charles Schwab (SCHW Quote) matched expectations after reporting a third-quarter profit of 17 cents a share. Revenue fell 19.2% from a year ago to $1.01 billion, just shy of the Thomson Reuters average estimate of $1.02 billion.
• Safeway (SWY Quote) is expected to post earnings of 29 cents a share on sales of $9.46 billion, according to a poll of analysts by Thomson Reuters.