Technology companies in the S. P. 500 fell 1.8 percent as a group. Oracle, the largest maker of database software, sank 4.1 percent after reporting lower hardware sales on Thursday. Micron Technology, a maker of computer-memory chips, tumbled 14 percent after reporting sales and profit that missed estimates. Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase slumped at least 1.5 percent, following losses in European lenders.
The S. P. 500 fell 15.05 points, or 1.17 percent, to 1,268.45, extending its decline in June to 5.7 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average declined 115.42 points, or 0.96 percent, to 11,934.58. The Nasdaq composite index fell 33.86 points, or 1.26 percent, to 2,652.89.
“The market has been in a correction mode for the month of June,” said Timothy Ghriskey, chief investment officer at the Solaris Group in Bedford Hills, N.Y. “The focus really has been on the European debt crisis, on Greece and on the potential for contagion.”
The S. P. 500 has retreated 7 percent from this year’s high at the end of April amid weaker-than-estimated economic data and concern about Europe’s debt crisis. The index is still up 0.9 percent in 2011 on government stimulus measures and better-than-expected earnings.
Stocks fell as banks dragged on Europe’s benchmark index after Moody’s Investors Service said it might downgrade 13 Italian lenders because they would be vulnerable to a cut in the government’s credit rating. The euro dropped for a third day and bond yields rose in Spain and Italy.
Declines in the financial and technology companies overshadowed faster-than-forecast growth in durable goods orders in the United States and a pledge by European leaders to support Greece if the nation approved austerity measures.
Equity futures rose earlier after the Commerce Department said orders for durable goods, or equipment meant to last at least three years, rose 1.9 percent, beating the median forecast of 1.5 percent. Demand for nonmilitary capital equipment also beat expectations after revised April readings showed a smaller decline than previously reported.
A gauge of technology companies in the S. P. 500 dropped 1.8 percent as most of its components retreated.
Oracle, which bought Sun Microsystems to capitalize on demand for the servers and databases used in data centers, slumped 4.1 percent to $31.14. While the hardware results may reflect Oracle’s effort to pare less profitable machines from its lineup, they were disappointing enough to overshadow better-than-predicted profit and sales of new software licenses.
Micron Technology tumbled 14 percent to $7.21. The price of dynamic random-access memory for personal computers fell as supplies increased and demand from makers of consumer laptops and desktop PCs remained sluggish, the company said.
Bank of America retreated 1.8 percent to $10.52. JPMorgan declined 1.5 percent to $39.49.
Interest rates fell. The Treasury’s benchmark 10-year note rose 12/32 to 102 6/32, and the yield fell to 2.87 percent from 2.91 percent late Thursday.
Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=ce87c24960180e9cee609d8b99f0513c
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