Wall St hit by tech jitters

New York - US stocks followed global markets lower on Thursday on renewed jitters about the pace of economic recovery and a downgrade of key American firms in the technology sector.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 93.87 points (0.90 percent) to end at 10 332.44, in a second consecutive losing session.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq tumbled 36.32 points (1.66 percent) to 2 156.82 and the broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index retreated 14.90 points (1.34 percent) to 1 094.90.

Wall Street opened with the main European and Asian markets showing losses, after a forecast from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development of a "modest" rebound from the global economic slump and leading economies facing a dilemma over huge debt and rescue spending.

"Sentiment has soured around the globe," said Michael Bratus at Moody's Economy.com.

Camilla Sutton at Scotia Capital said the OECD report was viewed in a negative context because it noted "that there are strong headwinds that will leave unemployment levels high and inflation well contained for some time".

Joseph Hargett at Schaeffer's Investment Research said the technology sector was facing pressure after a brokerage downgrade of key firms in the sector.

"The bull rally is apparently beginning to wane on Wall Street, and traders appear ready to take some profits off the table," he said.

He said Bank of America Merrill Lynch's downgrade of eight microchip companies, including Intel and Texas Instruments, was based on "concerns that inventories are too high unless there's a sharp upturn from the global economy."

- AFP