* HP shares up after announcing plans to cut jobs
* NetApp shares slide nearly 15 pct, warns on Europe
* Airlines rally on JPM price hikes
* Indexes down: Dow, S&P; 0.3 pct, Nasdaq 0.7 pct
By Rodrigo Campos
NEW YORK, May 24 (Reuters) – U.S. stocks slipped on Thursday
on ongoing concerns about Greece’s possible exit from the euro
zone, while tepid data on the U.S. economy gave investors little
reason to take risk.
Declines in technology stocks, led by a nearly 15 percent
drop in NetApp Inc, weighed on the Nasdaq even further.
Data showed demand for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods
rose less than expected in April while weekly jobless claims
dipped modestly for the week ended May 19.
“On both the job front and durable goods orders (data) was a
little bit disappointing but not outright negative,” said Bruce
McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank in
Cleveland, Ohio.
“The market has pulled back far enough that people are
trying to assess if we’ve priced the worst of what’s known. But
with the problems in Europe and the fact the news isn’t
reassuring, prices are still somewhat soft.”
Underscoring the vulnerability of corporate America to
events in Europe, NetApp on Wednesday forecast revenue below
Wall Street’s expectations and its chief executive warned about
uncertainty in Europe. The data storage equipment maker’s shares
tumbled 14.7 percent to $28.04.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 38.94 points,
or 0.31 percent, to 12,457.21. The S&P; 500 Index lost
4.32 points, or 0.33 percent, to 1,314.54. The Nasdaq Composite
dropped 18.93 points, or 0.66 percent, to 2,831.19.
Trading was expected to be volatile throughout the day as
investors remained concerned about Greece’s possible exit from
the euro zone. At least half of euro zone governments as well as
banks and large companies are making contingency plans in case
Greece decides to leave the single currency area, even though
the preferred option is still for Athens to keep the euro.
Hewlett-Packard shares rose 3.5 percent to $21.82 a
day after the company announced plans to lay off about 8 percent
of its workforce over the next couple of years.
The transport sector rose despite a rebound in oil prices,
led by gains in airlines after JPMorgan raised its price target
on several air carriers.
U.S. airways jumped almost 9 percent to $11.94 and
an index of airline stocks gained 2.3 percent.
After the closing bell on Wednesday, electronic trader
Knight Capital Group said it suffered a pre-tax loss of
$30 million to $35 million on the botched Nasdaq trading debut
of social media giant Facebook and is demanding the
exchange compensate that amount.
Knight Capital Group shares were down 0.5 percent at $12.38
and Facebook shares were unchanged at $32.
