The technology-heavy Nasdaq led stocks lower on Thursday as investors continued to fret about weakness in the global economy and Wall Street looked set to limp to its worst quarter in three years.

A vote by German lawmakers to beef up the crisis-hit euro zone's bailout package as well as better-than-expected data from the U.S. labor market did little to boost confidence beyond an early lift that eroded throughout the day.

The S&P consumer discretionary sector index<.GSPD> led losses with sharp falls in luxury goods names Tiffany & Co , down 8 percent at $63.91, and Coach down 7 percent at $53.46 as investors worried about a slowdown in China. On Thursday, China's benchmark stock index ended at a 15-month low.

The general sentiment is that things are not all said and done, said Joseph Greco, managing director at Meridian Equity Partners in New York. There are still big concerns about the consumer, about the housing market and labor market, about Europe.

Chinese Internet search engine Baidu , down 10.8 percent at $108.30, and other U.S.-listed Chinese companies were among the biggest losers after a securities regulator said the U.S. Justice Department was investigating accounting irregularities at Chinese companies listed on U.S. exchanges.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> slipped 24.63 points, or 0.22 percent, to 10,986.27. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> shed 8.77 points, or 0.76 percent, to 1,142.29. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> lost 49.94 points, or 2.00 percent, to 2,441.64.

Tech names pressured the Nasdaq, with Amazon.com Inc off 4.4 percent at $219.54 following a sharp rally in Wednesday's session. Advanced Micro Devices sank 16.2 percent to $5.15 after cutting its third-quarter revenue outlook, prompting many analysts to downgrade their views on the stock.

Other big-cap Internet names were also down. Netflix Inc sank 12.9 percent to $110.75 while Yahoo Inc lost 6.6 percent to $13.26.

Market volatility is likely to remain high as traders react to European headlines and attempt to gauge the commitment of governments and institutions as they work to prevent a Greek default. End-of-quarter repositioning will also influence market movement.

The benchmark S&P 500 index is expected to finish the year down for the first time in three years as an escalating European debt crisis and stalled U.S. economy led strategists to slash forecasts in the latest Reuters poll.

(Reporting by Edward Krudy; Editing by Jan Paschal)

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