Stocks slid as a negative data on manufacturing in the Philadelphia region added to worries about Europe. The Labor Department said claims for jobless benefits held steady last week, while the Conference Board’s gauge of the outlook for the next three to six months fell 0.1% in April. JPMorgan was 4.3% off after the New York Times reported the bank’s trading loss announced last week had widened from $2 billion to more than $3 billion during the last four trading sessions. Wal-Mart jumped 4.2% after the discount retailer reported a better-than-expected rise in first-quarter income. Tech stocks also closed on the negative territory, while Hewlett-Packard rose 0.14% on media-report that the co. is considering cutting as many as 25,000 jobs, or 8% of its workforce. Dell was down 0.50% after Sterne Agee upgraded the stock to neutral from underperform. Facebook will start trading on the Nasdaq exchange today. Implied volatility surged to the 25 level on huge trading volumes.
