Stocks Closed Lower on Euro-Zone Growth Worries

U.S. stocks closed lower on Thursday, dragged down by concerns about euro-zone growth and Oracle’s sharp miss on quarterly results, which weighed on tech shares. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 90.24 points, or 0.62%, to 14,421.49 and the S&P 500 index slumped 12.91 points, or 0.83%, to 1,545.80. The Nasdaq Composite index dropped 31.59 points, or 0.97%, to 3,222.60.

The European Central Bank on Thursday set the clock ticking on a Cyprus bailout deal, announcing that it would have no choice but to suspend an emergency liquidity lifeline for the country’s banks on Monday unless a rescue program is in place.

Oracle Corp. reported a surprising decline in revenues for its third fiscal quarter,  along with a disappointing forecast. For the period ended Feb. 28, net income was $2.5 billion, or 52 cents per share, compared with net income of $2.5 billion, or 49 cents per share, for the same period last year.

Nike Inc. (NYSE:NKE) said Thursday that its fiscal third-quarter profit rose to $866 million, or 95 cents a share, from $560 million, or 60 cents, a year earlier. Sales rose 9% to $6.19 billion. Excluding the impact from divesting Umbro and Cole Haan, profit would have risen to 73 cents a share, Nike said.

Apple Inc now runs its largest U.S. data center entirely on renewable energy, with a majority of the power generated on-site from solar panels and fuel cells, the company’s chief financial officer, Peter Oppenheimer, said on Thursday.