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1st LD Writethru: U.S. stocks close flat amid Greece concerns

Xinhua, April 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. stocks ended slightly lower Thursday, as investors weighed concerns about Greece against generally upbeat quarterly earnings reports.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 6.84 points, or 0.04 percent, to 18,105.77. The S&P 500 decreased 1.64 points, or 0.08 percent, to 2,104.99. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged down 3.23 points, or 0.06 percent, to 5,007.79.

Greece's public finances in 2014 were worse than initial forecast had predicted, the Hellenic Statistical Authority said Wednesday amid the possibility of a looming Greek default this spring should Athens fail to reach a deal with lenders on further financing soon.

Meanwhile, the rating agency Standard & Poor's cut Greece's credit rating to "CCC+" from "B-" with a negative outlook Wednesday.

On the economic front, in the week ending April 11, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims was 294,000, above expectations and an increase of 12,000 from the previous week's revised level, said the U.S. Labor Department Thursday.

Privately-owned housing starts in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 926,000, missing market consensus, but were 2 percent above the revised February estimate of 908,000, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

"Inclement weather in February was blamed for the dramatic pull back in housing starts last month, but March's weaker than expected number suggests the weather was not the only factor. The regional slowdown in both starts and permits in the South and West suggest the pullback in oil and gas production is beginning to ripple through the market as home builders react to weaker demand in the shale regions," said Sophia Kearney-Lederman, an economic analyst at FTN Financial, in a note.

In corporate news, Goldman Sachs reported better-than-expected earnings, helped by a burst of trading in fixed-income and currencies. The investment bank generated net revenues of 10.62 billion U.S. dollars, the highest quarterly result in four years. Its shares, however, fell 0.44 percent to 200.21 dollars apiece.

Shares of Citigroup rose 1.52 percent to 54.02 dollars apiece after posting better-than-expected quarterly earnings and weaker- than-expected revenues Thursday. The company announced first quarter revenues of 19.809 billion dollars and net income of 4.817 billion dollars.

Shares of Netflix soared 18.21 percent to 562.05 dollars apiece as the company reported that its quarterly revenues grew 24 percent year on year and it added more subscribers than expected after Wednesday's closing bell. Endite