Wall Street fell today, pressured in part by fresh Greek drama and U.S. economic reports that helped make an interest-rate increase this year look more likely.
The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) slipped 0.9 percent to 2,094.98 at 3:40 p.m. in New York. The 30-company Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) skidded 1 percent to 17,897, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (INDEXNASDAQ:NDX) slipped 0.8 percent to 4,483.94.
Debt-laden Greece told the IMF that it plans on bundling four loan repayments due in June, with the first due tomorrow, into one payment for June 30.
The Fed has held short-term rates near zero since December 2008.
DATA:
Jobless claims decreased by 8,000 to 276,000 in the week ended May 30 from a revised 284,000 in the prior period, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 52 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 278,000.
U.S. productivity in the first quarter fell by a revised 3.1% annual pace instead of 1.9%, fresh government figures show. Economists surveyed by MarkeWatch had expected a revised 3% drop in productivity owing to poor growth in the first three months of the year.
MOVERS:
J.M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) fell 3.8 percent to $113.76 after the company reported a quarterly loss hurt by higher green coffee costs and lower demand for its coffee products in the United States following price increases.
T-Mobile (NYSE:TMUS) rose 2.9 percent to $39.42 after the Wall Street Journal reported that Dish Networks (NASDAQ:DISH) is in talks to merge with the company. Dish rose 5.8 percent to $74.93.
Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) fell 2 percent to $11.24 as the fast-food franchise was downgraded to neutral from outperform and its stock-price target cut to $12 from $13 by Wedbush Securities.
Michaels Cos (NASDAQ:MIK) slumped 5 percent to $26.83 as the crafts retailer missed estimates by $0.01, reporting quarterly profit of $0.32 per share, while revenue was essentially in line.
L Brands (NYSE:LB) gained 1 percent to $87.00 as the Victoria's Secret parent reported a same-store sales increase of 5 percent for May, above the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of a 2.8 percent increase.
Five Below (NASDAQ:FIVE) climbed 8.5 percent to $38.07 as the discount retailer earned an adjusted eight cents per share for its latest quarter, $0.01 above estimates, with revenue also exceeding forecasts.
FireEye (NASDAQ:FEYE) gained 0.4 percent to $47.90 after the company partnered with Visa to help defend clients against attacks on consumer payment data. Visa (NYSE:V) inched down 1.2 percent to $68.13.
Molycorp (NYSE:MCP) tumbled 13 percent to 0.357 after the rare earth miner missed an interest payment earlier this week, heightening concerns that the struggling company could file for bankruptcy before the end of the month.
Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) advanced 1.6 percent to $24.82 after posting better-than-expected second-quarter profits as the telecom equipment-maker enjoyed an increase in international sales and more demand for optical gear.
COMMODITIES:
Gold for August delivery on Comex lost 0.8 percent to settle at $1,175.20 an ounce.
West Texas Intermediate July crude shed 2.75 percent to $58 a barrel.
OTHER MARKETS:
European stocks fell, with Germany’s DAX down 0.7 percent and France’s CAC-40 sliding 0.9 percent
Chinese stocks swung sharply today. The Shanghai Composite Index slumped as much as 5.3 percent before recovering to end higher on the day, up 0.8 percent.
U.S. government bond prices rose, pushing yields down. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note dropped to 2.30 percent from 2.36 percent late yesterday.