Weak economic news, Europe help stocks close lower

From RanSquawk:

(NEW YORK) — Stocks fell for a second day on Wall Street on concern that a proposed bank bailout for the Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus could cause the euro crisis to flare up again. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 39 points, or 0.3 percent, to 14,472 as of 11 a.m. EDT. The Dow fell as much as 110 points in the early going, before recouping some of its loss. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell eight points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,552. The Nasdaq composite dropped 17 points, or 0.5 percent, to 3,232.

(NEW YORK) — Stocks fell for a second day on Wall Street on concern that a proposed bank bailout for the Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus could cause the euro crisis to flare up again. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 39 points, or 0.3 percent, to 14,472 as of 11 a.m. EDT. The Dow fell as much as 110 points in the early going, before recouping some of its loss. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell eight points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,552. The Nasdaq composite dropped 17 points, or 0.5 percent, to 3,232.

HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stock markets mostly held steady on Thursday but Japanese stocks slid as investors took profits following a huge rally the day before.

The Mole submits: In another triple digit move, U.S. stocks fell late Thursday in a sloppy close, led by banks and technology companies, on reports that more mortgage-bond deals are being scrutinized by prosecutors and an earnings forecast from Cisco Systems Inc. that disappointed some investors.

Despite the fact that Europe was closed today, the algos were not to be put off as the day broke beautifully into two pieces with a linear sell-off across assets into 1130ET and then a de-correlated nothing-burger all afternoon amid volumes lower than a CNBC anchor's IQ. Makes perfect sense right? The market dribbled higher off the lows into the close and then we got a little discombobulated in the last few minutes as Boehner rumors hit and ETFs (notably bonds - TLT) went a little jiggy.