US stocks fell the most they had in almost a month on Thursday, as weaker-than-expected data out from the Eurozone and concerns over the economy of Cyprus weighed heavily.

Declines were seen across the board, with a disappointing quarter at Oracle Corp pushing the Nasdaq firmly lower.

Troubled economy Cyprus has been told by the European Central Bank that it must find a way to raise £5.8bn to qualify for financing support from the European Union.

A proposal for a levy on bank deposits was thrown out and now leaders are searching for an alternative including turning to Russia for aid.

The European Central Bank has warned that it would cut off emergency liquidity for Cypriot banks on Monday unless a deal was reached to shore up the country's ailing banks.

Elsewhere, Eurozone manufacturing contracted in March at the fastest rate in three months, data showed, dashing hopes of an economic recovery.

A composite index based on a survey of purchasing managers fell to 46.5 from 47.9 in February, according to Markit Economics.

In parallel, the service sector gauge dropped to 46.5 from 47.9 (Consensus: 48.2).

Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives on Thursday afternoon approved Republican Representative Paul Ryan's fiscal year 2014 budget proposal. The measure was by-and-large approved along party lines.

On the corporate front the most talked about company of the session was the sharp drop seen in shares of software maker Oracle, following its latest set of results out Wednesday night.

Of interest, Blackstone Group LP, which is considering a bid for Dell, has approached Oracle's President Mark Hurd about running the computer maker, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg reported. Hurd is a former Chief Executive Officer of Hewlett Packard.

Shares of BMC Software shot up by 10% at one point in the session, although without any apparent 'trigger' for the move.

Hewlett Packard announced a 10% increase in its quarterly dividend.



Better than forecast economic figures

Initial weekly unemployment claims dropped by 10,000 to 332,000 (Consensus: 343,000), to near a five-year low.

Existing home sales for the month of February came in at an annualised rate of 4.98m, more-or-less in-line with the 5.0m expected by the consensus.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's manufacturing gauge for the month of March improved to 2.0 (Consensus: -3.3), from a reading of -12.5 in the month before. The new orders sub-index improved to 0.5 from -7.8 in February.

The Conference Board institute's index of leading economic indicators improved by 0.5% on month in February, versus the gain of 0.3% expected.

Slight move down in Treasury yields

Front month West Texas crude futures settled down $1.05 to $92.45 a barrel on the NYMEX.

10-year US Treasury yields were down by five basis points, to 1.91%.



S&P 500 - Risers
Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) $22.86 +3.46%
BMC Software Inc. (BMC) $45.48 +3.39%
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $58.06 +3.36%
Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM) $41.45 +2.65%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $17.69 +2.02%
Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. (MJN) $75.72 +1.61%
Williams Companies Inc. (WMB) $36.55 +1.58%
Hasbro Inc (HAS) $42.89 +1.54%
Centerpoint Energy Inc. (CNP) $23.44 +1.38%
American Tower Corp (Reit) (AMT) $76.29 +1.29%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Oracle Corp. (ORCL) $32.30 -9.69%
Airgas Inc. (ARG) $97.96 -5.22%
Jabil Circuit Inc. (JBL) $18.60 -4.52%
JDS Uniphase Corp. (JDSU) $13.71 -4.13%
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) $2.64 -4.00%
J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (JCP) $15.53 -3.96%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $20.84 -3.83%
Eastman Chemical Co. (EMN) $70.48 -3.69%
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF) $45.94 -3.41%
FMC Corp. (FMC) $57.19 -3.33%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $40.07 +0.50%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $48.80 +0.41%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $55.06 +0.33%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $73.13 +0.19%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $68.95 +0.10%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $20.84 -3.83%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $22.32 -2.62%
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $12.57 -1.64%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $48.35 -1.57%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $212.26 -1.30%
Boeing Co. (BA) $84.33 -1.22%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $56.31 -1.11%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $92.43 -1.09%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $8.45 -1.05%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $49.36 -0.96%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) $22.86 +3.46%
BMC Software Inc. (BMC) $45.48 +3.39%
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $58.06 +3.36%
Randgold Resources Ltd. Ads (GOLD) $85.54 +2.99%
Nuance Communications Inc. (NUAN) $19.85 +1.82%
eBay Inc. (EBAY) $52.92 +0.95%
Mattel Inc. (MAT) $42.58 +0.66%
Perrigo Company (PRGO) $118.27 +0.53%
Sirius XM Radio Inc (SIRI) $3.10 +0.49%
Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) $103.55 +0.46%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Oracle Corp. (ORCL) $32.30 -9.69%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $20.84 -3.83%
Fossil Inc. (FOSL) $96.03 -3.02%
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) $9.07 -2.58%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $48.10 -2.49%
Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) $44.55 -2.43%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $171.30 -2.40%
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (MXIM) $31.59 -2.20%
Texas Instruments Inc (TXN) $34.29 -2.20%
Expedia Inc. (EXPE) $61.93 -2.13%

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