U.S. stocks fall as data deflect earnings Europe

U.S. stocks fall as data deflect earnings
Europe remains a trouble spot for investors; volume jumps

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks declined for a second day Thursday, pushing the Nasdaq Composite Index into the loss column for the week, as disappointing economic data and unease over Europe offset positive corporate results.

”So much of our economic hopes are dependent upon employment stabilizing and improving,” Laurence Creatura, portfolio manager at Federated Investors, said of the weekly jobless-claims data. “It would be painfully discouraging to have this data continue to go in the wrong direction. … At this stage, this is just a symptom and not a disease.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA -0.53% fell 68.65 points, or 0.5%, at 12,964.10, leaving it up 0.9% for the week to date.

Up 0.5% from last Friday’s close, the S&P 500 Index SPX -0.59% lost 8.22 points, or 0.6%, at 1,376.92, with technology the worst performing and telecommunications the best among its 10 major sectors.

The Nasdaq COMP -0.79% retreated 23.89 points, or 0.8%, at 3,007.56, off 0.1% for the week, with one session remaining. Apple Inc. AAPL -3.44% , its biggest component, lost 3.4%.

For every stock that rose, nearly three fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where almost 823 million shares traded; composite volume of 4.14 billion was the largest volume day since April 10 and topped the year-to-date average of 3.79 billion.

Volume of Nasdaq Stock Market-listed shares also picked up. The 1.98 billion shares trading hands was the largest since March 16 and topped the year-to-date average of 1.75 billion.
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