Stocks Tumbled Most in 5 Weeks

U.S. stocks tumbled on Thursday with the worst declines in more than five weeks. At close, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 231.19 points, or 1.41 percent, to 16,110.89, the S&P 500 lost 21.86 points, or 1.17 percent, to 1,846.34 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 62.91 points, or 1.46 percent, to 4,260.42.

The federal budget deficit narrowed in February, the Treasury Department reported Thursday, shrinking 5% from a year earlier as receipts jumped and spending only modestly rose.

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), the world’s largest Internet retailer, boosted the price of its Prime membership by 25 percent to $99 a year, the first increase since the service’s introduction nine years ago.

The U.S. Department of Energy will sell up to 5 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a move it said was to test the capabilities of the nation’s emergency stockpile in a rapidly changing oil market.

President Barack Obama will direct the Labor Department to strengthen overtime pay protections for millions of workers, a White House official said.