Wall Street ended slightly lower, the Dow Jones lost 0.14%

U.S stocks ended slightly lower Thursday, another earthquake in Japan has revived the fears about the nuclear crisis, but the decline was contained by optimism about the U.S economy.

The Dow Jones has sold 0.14% or 17.26 points at 12,409.49 points, the Standard & Poor's 500 dropped 0.15% or 2.03 points to 1,333.51 points and the Nasdaq Composite Index declined by 0.13% or 3.68 points, to 2796.14 points.

A powerful magnitude of 7.4 earthquake struck Thursday night north-eastern Japan, but the notice issued tsunami warning for the coasts of the region was lifted and nothing unusual was detected for time in coastal nuclear power plants.

In addition, better than expected figures on the distribution in March have limited market losses. Sales in the distribution comparable number of stores rose 1.7% in March, according to a sample of 25 distributors. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a decline of 0.7%.

This is the 19th month of increase in comparable stores.

Costco Wholesale has exceeded expectations, the action has finished up 3.8% to 77.82 dollars.

Bed Bath & Beyond jumped 10.5% to 54.55 dollars after posting a forecast of annual profit above expectations.

Trading volumes were moderate with a little over $ 7 billion on the NYSE, the NYSE Amex and Nasdaq , against an average estimated at 8.47 billion last year.

The VIX volatility index has gained 1.1%.

General Electric has sold nearly 1% despite the expected announcement of the construction of the largest manufacturing of photovoltaic panels in the United States in order to become a major player.