Thursday, the US stock market closed lower on the back of disappointing results from technology giants like Oracle and Google. Oracle stocks came under pressure after the company reported a slower-than-forecast 21% revenue rise for the third quarter, with profit increasing 30%. Google shares also got hot backed by the report that its most recent pay per click number was weak.
Further, the results of the Fed''s first Term Securities Lending Facility auction for 28-day loans came to an end where Fed accepted $75 billion, for a bid-to-cover ratio of 1.15.On the economic front, new unemployment claims for the week ended March 22 fell to 366,000 as against the economist's expectations of 371,000 claims. Separately, final fourth quarter GDP was left unchanged at 0.6%. Personal consumption was revised higher to 2.3% from 1.9%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) dropped by 120.40 points to close at 12,302.46. The S&P 500 (SPX) index decreased by 15.37 points to close at 1,325.76 and the NASDAQ Composite (RIXF) fell 43.53 points to close at 2,280.83.
Among the Dow's 30 components, 28 components ended in red zone mainly led by the technology stocks like Hewllet Packard, IBM and Intel down by 1.5%, 1.2%, and 3.5% respectively.
A total of more than 1.9bn shares were traded on the NASDAQ, with declining stocks outpaced the advancing stocks by 3 to 2. On NYSE around 3.9bn shares traded for the day, with declining stocks outpaced the advancing stocks by 5 to 3.
Crude oil futures for the month of May delivery closed higher by $1.68 at $107.58 per barrel on New York Mercantile Exchange. The crude prices grew as fresh tensions erupted in Iraq that raised worries that supplies from the crude-rich region might be disrupted.
The gold prices for the month of April delivery fell by $0.20 to settle at $954 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The gold prices grew after the dollar gained its momentum as its rival currencies. The dollar rose as much as 0.8% against the euro.
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