U.S. Stocks Edge Lower On Oracle, Google Woes

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks traded lower on Thursday with technology shares remaining under pressure as a result of disappointing numbers from Oracle Corp. and Google Inc., while crude-oil prices stayed close to $106 a barrel.

"On the tech side, we have two negative points with the numbers out of Oracle and Google," said Owen Fitzpatrick, head of U.S. equities at Deutsche Bank. "We're starting to see some softness in there, but it's not a big slide."

Crude futures "are also still sitting firmly above $106, which is helping the energy sector but not the rest of the market," Fitzpatrick said.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was recently down 7.24 points at 12,415.62, although 19 of its 30 components were on the rise.

Decliners on the Dow included most technology issues, such as Hewlett-Packard , IBM , Intel and Microsoft .

The S&P 500 index eased 0.48 points to 1,340.65, while the Nasdaq Composite slumped 15.86 points to 2,308.50.

On a positive note, a Texas judge ordered banks to fund the proposed $19 billion buyout of radio broadcaster Clear Channel Communications by two private-equity firms. Clear Channel's shares rallied 11.3%, recovering much of the heavy losses they suffered Wednesday.

Trading volumes showed 409 million shares changing hands on the New York Stock Exchange, where decliners outpaced gainers by 4 to 3. On the Nasdaq stock exchange, 293 million shares traded, and decliners topped gainers by 3 to 2.

By sector, biotechnology , pharmaceuticals , and utilities advanced, while banks , broker/dealers and technology led the way lower.

Data boost

Easing recent concerns about the extent of the slumping U.S. economy, the Commerce Department said its 0.6% estimate for growth in gross domestic product was unrevised from the previous two estimates.

Meanwhile, first-time claims for state unemployment benefits for the week ended March 22 fell 9,000 to stnd at 366,000, the Labor Department reported.

Besides Thursday's economic releases, a number of Federal Reserve officials were making remarks.

The dollar was stronger against rivals, including the Japanese yen. Crude for May delivery was last up 75 cents, or 0.7%, to $106.65 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while gold futures slipped $1.50 to $947.70 an ounce.

U.S. stocks dropped on Wednesday, with worries over a decline in durable-goods orders and worries that the long-pending Clear Channel deal had hit a roadblock combining to hit stocks. The Dow industrials lost 109 points, the Nasdaq Composite shed 16 points and the S&P 500 fell 11 points.

Techs slump

Among the companies in Thursday's spotlight, Oracle shares fell more than 7% after the business-software giant reported a slower-than-forecast 21% revenue rise for the third quarter, with profit increasing 30%.

Rival SAP saw its U.S.-listed shares drop 6%.

Also on the tech front, paid clicks for Internet search giant Google had a second month of disappointing growth, according to a comScore study. Lehman Brothers kept an overweight rating, though it lowered its Google price target to $580 from $644.

"We believe Google is being impacted by: macro effects on consumer clicking activity and potentially advertiser budgets; enhanced quality initiatives; and a slowdown in overall search traffic," the broker said.

Google's shares slipped 3%.

Also on the move, Rambus saw its shares erase early gains. A jury found the chipmaker wasn't guilty of fraud or violating antitrust laws in dealing with an industry group that set technology standards for dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chips in the 1990s.

Financial shares were mixed. Fresh off slashing estimates for a number of banks including Citigroup, Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Meredith Whitney cut estimates for Merrill Lynch and UBS .

Elsewhere, shares of General Electric rose 0.%. The company said it had reached separate deals with American Express and Banco Santander , getting $1.1 billion in cash and an Italian banking operation in return for selling its corporate card business and various European personal finance units.

Children's Place said its Hoop Holdings division filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as it seeks to sell more of its Disney Store business to Walt Disney Co. . Hoop designs, contracts to produce, and sells merchandise under the Disney Store brand name via a license from Walt Disney.

The Nikkei 225 closed 0.8% lower in Tokyo while the FTSE 100 rose 0.8% in London.

By Nick Godt