US STOCKS-Wall Street falls after mixed earnings; ECB chief disappoints

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* ECB opens door for future rate cuts
* Ford falls after quarterly profit miss
* 3M gains after reiterating FY outlook
* Tesla slips after steeper-than-expected Q2 loss
* Indexes down: Dow 0.54%, S&P 0.53%, Nasdaq 0.85%

(Updates to open)
By Amy Caren Daniel
July 25 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Thursday after a
handful of mixed earnings reports pointed to a slowing global
economy, and as the European Central Bank chief's comments on
monetary policy failed to impress investors.
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the bank's
all-important inflation target should not be viewed as a 2% cap,
in a significant move accompanied on Thursday by further
explicit hints of easing down the road.
"The market was really looking for a dovish Draghi and he
kind of under delivered on that. He wasn't as outspoken as the
market had hoped he would be," said Bas van Geffen, quantitative
analyst at RaboResarch in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Tesla Inc TSLA.O tumbled 14.1% and was the biggest drag on
the Nasdaq after the electric carmaker softened its language
once again on meeting its profit timeline after missing its
quarterly financial targets. Ford Motor Co F.N fell 6.9% after the automaker reported a
lower-than-expected profit and gave a disappointing full-year
earnings forecast.
"I don't think it's all too surprising that we're getting a
mixed bag of earnings and some pockets of weakness. The key for
investors is if these pockets of weakness are a sign of an
economic downturn or just a slow patch," said Scott Brown, chief
economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Florida.
In a bright spot, 3M Co MMM.N rose 3% after the
manufacturing conglomerate reiterated its full-year earnings
forecast despite slowing growth in high-profile markets such as
China.
Two weeks into the second-quarter earnings season, about 77%
of the 138 S&P 500 companies that have reported so far have
topped earnings estimates, according to Refinitiv data.
Overall earnings, however, are now expected to fall 0.1%,
compared with a prior estimate of a rise of about 1%.
Hopes that the Federal Reserve would adopt a looser monetary
policy at its rate-setting meeting next week to counter the
impact of a protracted U.S.-China trade war have helped Wall
Street's main indexes scale record levels this month.
At 9:54 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was down 146.27 points, or 0.54%, at 27,123.70, the S&P 500
.SPX was down 15.93 points, or 0.53%, at 3,003.63. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 70.54 points, or 0.85%, at 8,250.97.
Facebook Inc FB.O reversed premarket gains to trade 1.5%
lower. The social media giant said new rules and product changes
aimed at protecting user privacy would slow its revenue growth
into next year.
Align Technology ALGN.O plunged 24.3% and was the biggest
percentage loser on the S&P 500, as the orthodontic device maker
gave a current-quarter revenue and profit outlook that came
below estimates.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 2.08-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and for a 2.07-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 18 new 52-week highs and one new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 47 new highs and 26 new lows.