Stocks Slumped as Oil Declined

U.S. stock slumped on Thursday as crude prices and defensive sectors declined. At close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 113.75 points, or 0.63%, to 17,982.52. The S&P 500 was down 10.92 points, or 0.52%, to 2,091.48. The Nasdaq Composite fell 2.24 points, or 0.05%, to 4,945.89.

Oil futures finished lower Thursday. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, June West Texas Intermediate crude fell by $1, or 2.3%, to settle at $43.18 a barrel. Brent crude declined $1.27, or 2.8%, to $44.53 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange.

Google’s parent Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) reported a first-quarter adjusted profit that was lower than analysts’ estimates, as cost per clicks fell. Google’s advertising revenue increased 16.2 percent to $18.02 billion (13 billion pounds), while the number of ads, or paid clicks, rose 29 percent, the company said.

Microsoft Corp’s quarterly adjusted profit missed analysts’ estimates as a continued slump in personal computer sales hurt the company’s core Windows business. The company’s net income fell to $3.76 billion (2.6 billion pounds), or 47 cents per share, in the third quarter ended March 31, from $4.99 billion, or 61 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue fell to $20.53 billion from $21.73 billion.

Starbucks Corp on Thursday reported global cafe sales growth that fell just short of Wall Street expectations. It said global sales at cafes open at least 13 months were up 6 percent for the second quarter ended March 27.

J.D. Power and LMC Automotive on Thursday said April U.S. total light vehicle sales will rise 4.9 percent to 1.523 million vehicles, for an annualized rate of 17.6 million vehicles.

Solar-energy company SunEdison Inc. on Thursday filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a dramatic move for a company whose market value stood at nearly $10 billion in July.