Wall Street declines, led by financials, technology stocks

NEW YORK, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street capped lower Thursday, as a drop in telephone and technology companies and weak financials weighed on the big board.

ATT Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. tumbled after JPMorgan Chase Co. downgraded the shares on concerns on slowing subscriber growth.

Moreover, Symantec Corp., the biggest marker of security software, fell sharply, as the company forecast sales below Wall Street expectation.

Financials also got hammered, as investors preferred some profit-taking before the formal release of the government's stress tests of banks due at 5:00 p.m. Thursday. The report is expected to reveal which banks will need to raise capital.

The decline of technology stocks and financials overshadowed better-than-expected jobless data. The U.S. Labor Department said Thursday that new jobless claims fell to a seasonally adjusted 601,000 from the previous week's 631,000. Economists had been expecting a jump to 635,000.

The failure of a government bond auction also undercut the market sentiment. Investors worried that waning demand for government debt could raise the cost of capital and hamper the economic recovery.

The Dow Jones fell 102.43, or 1.20 percent, to 8,409.85. Broader indexes also traded lower. The Standard Poor's 500 index dipped 12.14, or 1.32 percent, to 907.39; and the Nasdaq lost 42.86, or 2.44 percent, to 1,716.24.