Stock prices were modestly lower Thursday as investors await a key economic report.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 30.72 points to 10,467.08. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 12.87 points to 2,251.69 and the S&P 500 lost 4.60 points to 1,101.53.
The Labor Department reported initial claims for jobless benefits fell by 11,000 in the past week to 457,000. On Friday the preliminary reading for economic growth in the second quarter will be released before the start of trading. It is expected the gross domestic product will show modest growth for the period.
Oil rebounded on Thursday. Crude closed at $78.36 a barrel, up $1.37.
Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) and Nvidia Corp. (Nasdaq: NVDA) lost at least 9.9 percent after reporting forecasts.
The S&P 500 fell the previous two days after consumer confidence slumped more than forecast, orders for durable goods unexpectedly decreased and the Federal Reserve said economic growth slowed in some areas. The gauge has climbed 6.9 percent in July, headed for its best monthly advance in a year, after earnings topped estimates at about 77 percent of its companies that have reported second-quarter results so far.
A Commerce Department report Friday may show United States growth slowed to 2.6 percent in the second quarter, from 2.7 percent in the first, based on the median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg survey.
Akamai Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: AKAM) sank 13 percent to $38.35. The largest supplier of software to make websites and digital media load faster said its profit margin shrank as it added business from customers like Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) at lower prices.
LSI Corp. (NYSE: LSI) had the biggest decline in the S&P 500, falling 14 percent to $4.08. The maker of chips used in computer disk drives said third-quarter sales will be between $625 million and $655 million. That compares with the $694.9 million average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL) fell 2.4 percent to $23.70 as the United States filed a complaint under the False Claims Act against the company and Oracle America Inc., alleging that it defrauded the United States on a General Services Administration software contract that was in effect from 1998 to 2006 and involved hundreds of millions of dollars in sales.
“Tech is not doing great and that’s enough to drag the index,” said Michael Mullaney, who manages $9 billion at Fiduciary Trust Co. in Boston. “We need to get a better economic picture in order to get a sustainable stocks rally. We need to get job creation and the consumer back on board.”
Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) led a gauge of consumer-staples stocks to the second-biggest decline among 10 industries in the S&P 500. The world’s largest toothpaste maker reported second-quarter sales of $3.81 billion, missing the average analyst estimate in a Bloomberg survey of $3.94 billion. Colgate slumped 6.8 percent to $78.12.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) declined 4.3 percent to $71.98. The Department of Justice has indicated that it is considering filing a civil lawsuit over a policy that bars merchants from charging extra to customers who pay with credit cards.
“The department has indicated that it is considering, Chief Executive Officer Joseph W. Saunders said Wednesday in a conference call with analysts after San Francisco-based Visa reported fiscal third-quarter results.
Utility companies had the biggest decline in the S&P 500 among 10 industry groups, falling 1.6 percent.
Constellation Energy Group Inc. (NYSE: CEG) fell 4.6 percent to $31.75. Jefferies & Co. lowered its 2010 earnings estimate for the supplier of electricity and natural gas.
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said the central bank should resume purchases of Treasury securities if the economy slows and prices fall rather than maintain a pledge to keep rates near zero. Bullard, a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee this year, said using Fed communications to pledge rates will stay near zero may prove to be detrimental.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) rose 3.7 percent to $152.58. The impact of the financial reform will be minimal unless market-making rules “turn out to be draconian (which they believe is unlikely),” Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) analyst Guy Moszkowski wrote in a report sent to clients today, citing a meeting with Goldman Sachs President Gary Cohn and Chief Financial Officer David Viniar. The company “is not waiting for final rules to be formulated by regulators to decide where to invest and how to grow.”
Citrix Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CTXS) surged 20 percent, the biggest gain in the S&P 500, to $56.67. The maker of networking software was raised to “outperform” from “neutral” at Robert Baird & Co. and to “neutral” from “underperform” at Cowen & Co.
Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) stock was halted for five minutes following a 100-share trade on NYSE Amex that drove the shares up more than 10 percent, triggering a circuit breaker implemented after the May 6 market crash. Cisco fell 0.8 percent to $23.21.
Bloomberg News contributed to this report.
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