Stocks End Lower with Mining Stocks Weak

U.S. stocks ended lower on Thursday, as a drop in precious metal prices dragged mining shares lower. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 25.96 points, or 0.17 percent, at 15,300.64. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index shed 5.71 points, or 0.34 percent, at 1,683.42. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 9.04 points, or 0.24 percent, at 3,715.97.

The U.S. government recorded a budget deficit of $148 billion in August, the Treasury Department reported Thursday, but remains on course for its first full-year shortfall below $1 trillion since 2008.

General Motors Co on Thursday unveiled new versions of its Chevrolet and GMC full-size SUVs in an effort to maintain the company’s dominance in this lucrative segment of the U.S. auto industry.

Hilton Worldwide Holdings, the world’s largest hotel chain, filed plans on Thursday to raise at least $1.25 billion through one of the most anticipated initial public offerings in years and one that would offer a crucial test of the hospitality industry’s recent recovery.

Michael Dell, the billionaire CEO of Dell DELL 0%, said on Thursday that taking the PC maker private will unleash the creativity and confidence of the company he founded in his college dorm room in 1984, as it seeks to reinvent itself and focuses on business software and services.