Tech Sector Weakness Leads To Pullback On Wall Street

(RTTNews) - Stocks moved mostly lower during trading on Thursday, giving back ground following the upward move seen over the two previous sessions. The major averages all moved to the downside, with the Nasdaq showing a significant decline.

The major averages regained some ground going into end of the day but still closed in negative territory. The Nasdaq tumbled 387.28 points or 1.5 percent to 25,881.95, the S&P 500 slid 38.63 points or 0.5 percent to 7,533.77 and the Dow dipped 105.67 points or 0.2 percent to 52,552.97.

The pullback on Wall Street came amid renewed weakness among technology stocks, as reflected by the slump by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

Computer hardware stocks turned in some of the worst performances, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index plummeting by 4.6 percent.

Substantial weakness is also visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 4.3 percent plunge by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.

Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) tumbled by 2.3 percent after the chipmaker reported better than expected second quarter results but forecast an increase in capital spending.

"While the case for boosting capacity is clear at a time when there is a large gap between supply and demand, shareholders will want TSMC to retain some discipline even as it looks to meet orders piling up," said AJ Bell head of markets Dan Coatsworth.

Outside of the tech sector, gold stocks moved sharply lower along with the price of the precious metal, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 4.4 percent.

Brokerage and steel stocks also saw notable weakness, while transportation stocks showed a significant move to the upside, resulting in a 3.2 percent surge by the Dow Jones Transportation Average.

Commercial real estate, housing and healthcare stocks also saw considerable strength, limiting the downside for the broader markets.

In U.S. economic news, a report released by the Labor Department showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly dipped to a two-month low last week.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell dipped to 208,000 in the week ended July 11th, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's revised level of 216,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 220,000 from the 215,000 originally reported for the previous week.

With the unexpected decrease, jobless claims dropped to their lowest level since hitting 199,000 in the week ended May 2nd.

Meanwhile the Commerce Department released a separate report on Thursday showing a modest increase in U.S. retail sales in the month of June.

The Commerce Department said retail sales crept up by 0.2 percent in June after climbing by an upwardly revised 1.0 percent in May.

Economists had expected retail sales to rise by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.9 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index plunged by 2.8 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index tumbled by 1.9 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned mixed over the course of the session. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index fell by 0.3 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries regained ground after an early slump but remained in negative territory. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose 2.4 basis points to 4.569 percent after reaching a high of 4.596 percent.