Technology firms drag Wall Street lower

US stocks declined on Thursday after weak outlooks from technology and consumer companies and downbeat comments from a Federal Reserve official.

Investors were also cautious as they awaited the release of the US’ second-quarter gross domestic product figures.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 31 points, or 0.29%, to 10,467. The S&P 500 Index dropped for a third straight day by four points, or 0.41%, to 1,101. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 13 points, or 0.57%, to 2,252.

Technology stocks took a plunge on the S&P 500 after Akamai Technologies Inc. said profit margins narrowed, while Nvidia Corp. and Symantec Corp. fell on profit outlooks. Consumer companies too headed lower, led by Colgate-Palmolive Co., after earnings trailed estimates.

Investors were also concerned that a Commerce Department report on Friday may show US growth slowed to 2.6% in the second quarter, from 2.7% in the first, based on the median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg survey.

St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard added to the disappointment saying he is worried about the risks the US could fall into a Japan-style quagmire of falling prices and investment.

In Europe, markets fell for a second day despite a raft of impressive earnings, particularly in the telecommunications sector, as concern mounted over US’ sluggish economic growth.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed down 0.4% at 256. The FTSE 100 ended down 0.1% at 5314, DAX finished down 0.7% at 6135 and France's CAC-40 closed 0.5% lower at 3652.

In Asia, the Shanghai Composite index surged 0.6% to 2,648 after the Chinese central bank said it would maintain a moderately loose monetary policy through the second half of the year. The Hang Seng index ended flat at 21,094.

Nikkei fell 52.10 points to 9,643.23 with tech stocks down after weak outlooks from US technology companies.

In Singapore, the Straits Times index rose 0.4% to a three-month peak of 2,997, while the S&P/ASX 200 index edged lower 0.1% to 4,524.