U.S. Stocks End Lower on Weak Tech Shares

NEW YORK, Oct. 19 -- U.S. stocks closed lower on Thursday with the tech-savvy NASDAQ down over 1 percent, as technology shares suffered a sell-off and investors remained concerned about economic conditions.

When the market closed, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 8.06 points, or 0.06 percent, to 13,548.94. The Standard & Poor's 500 was down 3.57 points, or 0.24 percent, to 1,457.34. The Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 31.25 points, or 1.01 percent, to 3, 072.87.

Thursday's drop was mainly due to negative earnings from technology companies.

Google posted its quarterly earnings on Thursday, showing that its profit declined 20 percent because total costs jumped and advertising prices slide. The share of Google went down 8.01 percent at 695.00 dollars per share.

Also adding to the concerns, Intel and IBM also posted negative outlook for their next season's performance.

Morgan Stanley, the sixth biggest U.S. bank, on Thursday reported a loss for the third quarter on debt valuation adjustments, but still beat Wall Street forecasts.

According to the report, the bank's revenue from underwriting bonds more than doubled to 431 million dollars, beating analysts' expectations. Its income from continuing operations totaled 561 million dollars, or 0.28 dollar per share.

Investors were still concerned about the economy, especially the rising number of the unemployed.

Morgan Stanley is the sixth major U.S. bank to report earnings, following JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America. Overall, these banks have posted better-than- expected earnings.

On the economic front, weekly jobless claims rebounded 46,000 to a seasonally adjusted 388,000, according to the Labor Department.

As for other markets, the U.S. dollar strengthened against the euro on Thursday as weak U.S. jobs data reduced investors' risk appetite and U.S. crude oil price on Thursday fluctuated near 92 dollars a barrel in light trading.

Light, sweet crude for November delivery fell 2 cents to settle at 92.10 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for December delivery edged down 80 cents, or 0.71 percent, to close at 112.42 dollars a barrel.