NEW YORK, May 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks traded lower on Thursday, as investors are paying close attention to the latest development of global trade.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 373.13 points, or 1.44 percent, to 25,594.20. The S&P 500 fell 32.05 points, or 1.11 percent, to 2,847.37. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 98.75 points, or 1.24 percent, to 7,844.57.

All of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors traded lower around midday, with the information technology sector down nearly 1.7 percent, leading the losers.

Shares of Intel declined nearly 5.2 percent, after the U.S. chip manufacturer's management had gave a downbeat three-year outlook.

The company expected a growth of "single digit" percentage range in both revenue and earnings per share over the next three years, due to weakening flat PC chip sales.

Shares of Chevron rose over 2.3 percent, after the U.S. energy giant decided not to vie for the acquisition of Anadarko Petroleum, as the latter showed more interest in its rival Occidental Petroleum.

On the economic front, U.S. jobless claims fell last week and unemployment rate was little changed in late April, said the U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday.

In the week ending May 4, the number of people who applied for jobless benefits dropped to 228,000, a slight decrease of 2,000 from the previous week.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2 percent for the week ending April 27, unchanged from that of the previous week. Enditem

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