Wall Street slumps as tech shares weigh : US Business

By Justin Grant

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell on Thursday after Oracle Corp's quarterly revenue missed Wall Street's expectations, pressuring technology shares on fears of a slowdown in spending by businesses.

Technology stocks were the biggest drags on the S&P 500, with Oracle sliding about 7.5 percent to $19.38, while Google Inc fell 3.5 percent to $442.15 after Lehman Brothers lowered its first-quarter earnings forecast, citing a weakening economy that could hurt advertising budgets.

"Oracle came out with results that were a little light and their forward guidance was a little cautious," said James Rosenthal, head trader at Punk Ziegel & Company in New York.

"Oracle is a very large company. It sells into a lot of different spaces and if they are a little cautious ... that will affect all business going forward for the next 3 to 6 months and that's why techs are weak today."

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 58.04 points, or 0.47 percent, to 12,364.82. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> shed 6.89 points, or 0.51 percent, to 1,334.24. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> declined 28.96 points, or 1.25 percent, to 2,295.40.

The Commerce Department said U.S. corporate profits fell 3.3 percent in the fourth quarter in a report that also confirmed U.S. economic growth slowed to a meager annual pace of 0.6 percent in the same period.

Shares of ConAgra Foods Inc rose 6 percent to $23.20 a share after the company raised its fiscal 2008 earnings forecast.

Shares of upscale home goods retailer Williams-Sonoma Inc fell 6.4 percent to $23.39 after it issued a cautious outlook for the rest of the fiscal year as concerns about consumer spending persist.

Crude surged to nearly $107 a barrel after saboteurs blew up one of Iraq's two main pipelines, stoking further worries about consumer spending due to high oil prices.

Clear Channel Communications Inc was a bright spot, climbing 11 percent to $29.80 after it won a temporary order preventing banks from reneging on commitments to fund the $20 billion buyout of the radio operator.

(Additional reporting by Ellis Mnyandu; Editing by James Dalgleish)

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