Tech And Consumer Stocks Led U.S. Markets To Second Straight Loss

Stocks closed lower for a second day, although a late rally erased nearly half of the session's losses after the major indices slid to six-month lows. A string of disappointing earnings results -- including Dow component UnitedHealth as well as Ebay and Morgan Stanley -- and first-time unemployment claims remained near a two-month high added to the negative sentiment.

Most industry sectors in S&P 500 ended lower, with the steepest declines for consumer discretionary and healthcare stocks. Shares of energy companies posted moderate gains, bouncing back with crude oil prices while materials stock finished little changed following a mixed performance for metals in Thursday's commodity trade.

U.S. Jobless Claims
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims during the week ended April 13 totaled 352,000, largely in-line with consensus expectations looking for 352,000 new applicants and nearly flat from a revised 348,000 first-time claims during the prior week.

Continuing claims also were roughly in-line with expectations during the week ended April 6, down 1.1% to 3.068 mln from the previous week's upwardly revised 3.103 mln. The four-week average of first-time claims, however, rose for a fourth straight week and pushed to a two-month high of 361,250, up 2,750 new applicants from the previous four-week average but remaining near its lowest levels in five years.

Philly Fed
Also, manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region posted a surprise decline during April from the prior month, according to new data released Thursday by the Philadelphia Fed. The overall regional score last month fell to a 1.3 reading from 2.0 in March, with the index for new orders turning negative in April at -1.0 following a 0.5 March tally. Economists polled by MarketWatch had been expecting the regional index to rise to 4.0.

Aside from disappointing earnings from UnitedHealth (UNH), Ebay (EBAY) and Morgan Stanley (MS), Apple (AAPL) continued its long deflation from its September 2012 high above $700 a share, falling over 2.5% and closing below $400 at a new 52-week low.

Commodities
Crude oil for May delivery settled $1.05 higher at $87.73 per barrel. May natural gas was up $19 cents to $4.40 per 1 mln BTU. April gold was up $9.80 to $1,392 per ounce while May silver slipped 6 cents to $23.24 per ounce. May copper settled 2 cents higher at $3.20 per pound.

Here's Where The U.S. Markets Stood At Day's End

• Dow Jones Industrial Average down 81.45 (-0.56%) to 14,537.14
• S&P 500 down 10.40 (-0.67%) to 1,541.61
• Nasdaq Composite Index down 38.31 (-1.20%) to 3,166.36

• Hang Seng Index down 1.26%.
• Shanghai China Composite Index up 0.19%.
• FTSE 100 up 0.03%.

• (+) ADK, The company's chief acquisition officers announces plans for an $8.00-a-share tender offer to acquire a majority stake of the company's stock.
• (+) THRX U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommends the full agency approve the company's inhaler for treating chronic lung disease. The FDA is expected to announce its decision on the Breo Ellipta inhaler by May 12.
• (+) PTGI, Canadian telecom Rogers Communications (RCI) offers $200 mln to acquire the company's Blackiron Data subsidiary, which provides data center and cloud-computing services in Canada. RCI is off 1.3% at $49.41 a share.

• (-) EXAS, Preliminary analysis of its Cologuard screening test demonstrated a 92% sensitivity for colorectal cancer and a 42% sensitivity for pre-cancerous polyps - although those results may not have been as robust as some were expecting, according to a Reuters report.
• (-) SNDK, Q1 earnings of $0.84 per share beating analyst estimates by $0.05. Revenue also tops estimates.
• (-) NOK, Reports 20% drop in Q1 sales to $7.62 bln, falling $750 mln short of forecasts as sales volumes for its basic phone declined 21% to 55.8 devices. Narrows net loss by over two-thirds to $355.7 mln, topping analyst expectations.