U.S. Stocks In Second Day Slump, Tech Firms Lead Losers

New York, NY (AHN) - Higher personal spending and jobless claims failed to boost U.S. stocks on Thursday as the major indices extended Wednesday's slump with technology firms spearheading losers.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost almost one percent or 120.40 points to close at 12,302, dragged by fallen shares of Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM, Microsoft Corp. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell almost two percent or 43.53 points to finish at 2,281 points.

The S & P 500 Index shed 15.37 points or 1.2 percent to close at 1,326. Oracle Corp., the world's third-largest software company, and search engine giant Google Inc. led losers. Oracle shares fell 7.2 percent or $1.51 to $19.43 fueled by lower third quarter profits while Google slid $14.11 to $444 on fewer ad clicks for the second month in a row.

Other losing technology firms were Oracle's rival, SAP and chipmaker Rambus. Bank of America and JPMorgan led decliners in the financial sector due to their lower first quarter earnings forecast. Merrill Lynch & Co.'s writedown of $4.5 billion collaterized debt obligations meant first quarter losses that slashed shares 5.7 percent or $2.52 to $41.90.

Meanwhile, crude for May delivery was up $1.68 or 1.6% to settle at $107.58 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures dropped 40 cents to end at $949 an ounce.