Stocks Pull Late Fade

Spark from General Electric's guidance fails to hold a charge.
By Mike Marino ,

Updated from 4:07 p.m. EST

Stocks wilted in late trading Thursday, having staged a modest rebound thanks to

General Electric's

(GE) - Get Report

higher guidance.

The

Dow

lost 13.15 points, or 0.13% to 10,472.87, having been up more than 50 points, while the

Nasdaq

gained only 0.84 points, or 0.04%, to 1991.06, having closed below 2000 again for the third time since November. The

S&P 500

finished down 1.11 points, or 0.09%, to 1171.42. The Dow has closed higher only three times since hitting a near four-year high March 4.

Volume on the

NYSE

was 1.72 billion shares, with advancers beating decliners by a 2-to-1 margin. Volume on the Nasdaq was 1.66 billion shares with advancers beating decliners by a 6-to-4 spread. All of the major indices ended in the red for the third week in a row. The Dow lost 1.15%, the S&P 500 gave back 1.03%, and the Nasdaq shed 0.82%.

In other markets, the 10-year Treasury note finished down 2/32 to yield 4.59%, while the dollar rose against the yen and was up against the euro.

"We are finally seeing a shift in sentiment today, with advancers outpacing decliners by almost 2 to 1," said Brian Williamson, equity trader at Boston Company Asset Management. "Without any negative news weighing the market down today, we might be seeing an inflow of money that has remained on the sidelines since the

Fed

announcement, as well as some short-covering ahead of the long weekend."

Oil futures were edging higher in Nymex floor trading following an explosion Wednesday at a

BP

(BP) - Get Report

refinery outside Houston that killed 14 people. At 430,000 barrels a day, the refinery is the third-largest in the U.S., although only one unit was affected in the blast. BP doesn't know what caused the accident.

On the Nymex, May crude closed up $1.03 to $54.84, bouncing from lows touched after a two-day, 6% selloff that followed the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike and bearish inventory data. Gasoline futures took off on the explosion but were flat at about $1.60 a gallon.

In economic news, weekly jobless claims hit 324,000 in the most recent week, up 3,000 from the previous week, which was revised up from 318,000 to 321,000. Economists expected a small decline to 315,000. Durable-goods orders rose 0.3%, which was less than the expected 0.8% gain. Excluding transportation items, orders fell 0.2%.

In other economic news, new-home sales jumped 9.4% in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.226 million units, the second-highest level on record. Economists were looking for a smaller increase to 1.15 million.

General Electric was up about 1.2% in trading after raising first-quarter earnings guidance to 37 cents or 38 cents a share from its previous estimate of 36 cents or 37 cents a share. The company cited improving end-markets and benefits related to a huge secondary offering of its former insurance unit

Genworth

(GNW) - Get Report

. GE closed up 23 cents to $35.73, while Genworth finished up 5 cents, or 0.19%, to $26.80.

Graphics chipmaker

ATI

(ATYT)

posted second-quarter earnings Thursday of 25 cents a share, excluding items, beating the Wall Street consensus estimate by a penny. Revenue in the quarter matched estimates, but the company guided its top line in the current quarter to $560 million to $600 million. Analysts were forecasting $618 million. The stock closed down 27 cents, or 1.6%, to $16.55.

A huge early winner is

Lexar

(LEXR)

, which confirmed late Wednesday that a jury had awarded it $380 million in a contract and trade-secrets lawsuit with Toshiba. The case centered on a 1996 collaboration pact between the two companies, an agreement Lexar argued Toshiba breached when it claimed certain flash memory technologies as its own and shared them with

SanDisk

(SNDK)

. Lexar closed up $3.15, or 99.3%, to $6.32, while SanDisk finished off 20 cents, or 0.7%, to $27.75.

Taser

(TASR)

said the British government has approved the newest version of its stun gun for police in England and Wales. The stock closed up $1.81, or 15%, to $13.91.

Alcon

(ACL)

said that the FDA has granted approval of its implanted lens for cataract patients. The stock ended up 18 cents, or 0.2%, to $87.48.

ICOS

(ICOS)

announced that its drug designed for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, did not meet the primary goal of improving lung function in patients. The stock closed down 18 cents, or 0.79%, to $22.69.

Yum Brands

(YUM) - Get Report

said it expects to earn 51 cents to 52 cents a share for the first quarter, matching Wall Street's estimate of 51 cents. The stock closed up $1.72, or 3.4%, to $52.32.

In brokerage news, Morgan Stanley upgraded

Symantec

(SYMC) - Get Report

to equal weight from underweight due to valuation factors. The stock closed up 43 cents, or 2.1%, to $20.93.

Yahoo!

(YHOO)

announced that its board has approved the buyback of up to $3 billion worth of common stock over the next five years. The stock finished up 54 cents, or 1.75%, to $31.41.

Barnes & Noble

(BKS) - Get Report

said that its board authorized a new stock-repurchase program of up to $200 million. This program follows the company's previous $250 million stock buyback, which was recently completed in full. The stock closed up 94 cents, or 2.8%, to $33.82.

Overseas markets closed higher, with London's FTSE 100 up 0.25% to 4922 and Germany's Xetra DAX adding 0.6% to 4343. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei rose 0.1% overnight, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.1% to 13,597.

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