The specter of unrest and protests in Greece and Spain ahead of planned economic austerity measures took their toll across the Atlantic as U.S. stocks declined for a third straight day.
Making matters just a little stickier were concerns over growth in China, where a territorial dispute with Japan over islands that sit over natural gas reserves is putting a strain on trade relations.
All the news weighed on the market from the open, and the day ended with the Nasdaq down 0.77% to 3,093, the S&P off 0.57% at 1,433, and the Dow off 0.33% to 13,413.
On the news front, shares of beleaguered electronics retailer RadioShack (NYSE:RSH) rallied 1% after CEO James Gooch announced his resignation. RadioShack shares have been slammed 75% year-to-date as its top and bottom lines have dwindled. CFO Dorvin Lively was named interim chief executive.
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) continued to make news, this time beyond its stock’s recent rise beyond the $750 level, as CEO Eric Schmidt indicated his company might want to partner with Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) for its search engine functions, possibly replacing Microsoft‘s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Bing, with whom Google has partnered since 2009. The news did little to move the needle for either Microsoft or Yaho0.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) continued to fall, closing down just over 1% — the stock is now off 6% from its high point last week as investors continue to digest the news out from the Foxconn facility riots, weaker-than-anticipated iPhone 5 sales, and bad user press over the phone’s map application.
Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) continued a recent run, heading up more than 5% as the company announced it gained 2 million new subscribers over the same period last year, bringing its total number of subscribers to over 18 million.
On the earnings front, shares of electronic circuit board manufacturer Jabil Circuit (NYSE:JBL) dropped more than 9% after the company reported earnings that fell short of estimates, and also lowered future expectations. JBL dropped about 10% on the news.
Thursday’s earnings releases include Dependable Dividend Stock McCormick (NYSE:MKC), Real America Index Component Nike (NYSE:NKE) and Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS).
Three Up
- American Greetings (NYSE:AM): Up 17.3% ($2.48) to $16.82.
- Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS): Up 6% (74 cents) to $13.
- Dean Foods (NYSE:DF): Up 5.65% to $16.26.
Three Down
- Verifone (NYSE:PAY): Down 6.2% ($1.85) to $28.17.
- Ryland Group (NYSE:RYL): Down 5.9% ($1.87) to $29.95.
- Questcor Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ:QCOR): Down 5.3% ($1.02) to $18.27.
Marc Bastow is an Assistant Editor at InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he was long AAPL and MSFT.
