Nasdaq falls 1%; Salesforce shares weigh on tech
U.S. stocks ended lower on Thursday, with the Nasdaq falling more than 1% and technology shares leading declines after a disappointing Salesforce forecast.
Investors also digested data showing the economy had grown slower than previously expected in the first quarter. A separate report showed weekly jobless claims rose more than expected.
Salesforce shares plunged 19.7%, a day after the company forecast second-quarter profit and revenue below Street estimates due to weak client spending on its cloud and enterprise business products.
The S&P 500 technology sector dropped 2.5% and was the biggest drag on the benchmark index. The communication services sector fell 1.1%, while the rest of the S&P 500 sectors ended higher.
The Commerce Department report showed the economy grew slower in the first quarter than previously estimated, after downward revisions to consumer and equipment spending and a key measure of inflation ticked lower, ahead of Friday's personal consumption expenditure report for April.
«Normally you'd expect the market to rally off of a downward revision to GDP because it signals the economy is moderating, the Fed's job is done, we can get rate cuts. That's not the reaction we're getting today,» said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide.
«So I'm a little surprised but not that surprised simply because after the six week (rally) that we've had, it's pretty healthy and expected to see some consolidation or sideways move for a while.»
The S&P 500 lost 31.47 points, or 0.60%, to end
