US stocks slump on economic data
New York: US stocks slid Tuesday, on news of mixed economic data and investors worried by weakness in home sales, consumer confidence and manufacturing.

An upward revision in the fourth-quarter gross domestic product raised worries about higher interest rates. The revised GDP showed that the economy grew at an annual rate of 1.6 per cent, much better than the 1.1 per cent the commerce department initially estimated and beating the 1.5 per cent economists predicted.

The data also had disappointing news. Sales of existing homes fell for the fifth consecutive month in January, leading to investors' concerns that a fall in homes sales and refinancings could choke off a source of wealth for consumers, slowing down spending.
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Google shares dip
San Francisco: Shares of Google Inc dropped sharply on Tuesday after the chief financial officer's comment that the company's growth rates were slowing down. The shares later recovered some of the losses.

Google ended the day down $28.17, or 7 per cent to $362.27.

The stock fell by 14 per cent to $338.51 immediately after chief financial officer George Reyes's comments about "slowing" growth.

Analysts said Reyes's comments were taken out of context and he was not giving a revenue guidance. They said his comments were implied to be longer-term in nature.

Google, which holds its annual analyst conference on Thursday, has explicitly avoided giving analysts financial estimates or growth projections, a departure from standard Wall Street practices.

The reticence has brought Google under scrutiny, largely because the company's fourth-quarter results failed to meet analysts' optimistic expectations.

However, Google did release a statement clarifying Reyes's remarks. It said, "We would like to clarify and provide further information on these statements. As we have stated before, monetisation improvements will continue to be a key factor in driving future revenue growth. We still see significant opportunities to improve monetisation and intend to continue to focus our efforts in this area."
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