Stocks Ended Modestly Lower, Facebook Dragged

U.S. stocks ended modestly lower on Thursday, as Facebook shares weighed and investors grappled with uncertainty over next week’s U.S. presidential election. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 28.90 points, or 0.16%, to 17,931.74. The S&P 500 shed 9.28 points, or 0.44%, to 2,088.66. The Nasdaq Composite shed 47.16 points, or 0.92%, to 5,058.41.

Facebook shares tumbled 5.68 percent after the social-media giant warned late Wednesday that growth rates for its advertising revenue will “come down meaningfully.”

U.S. services companies grew at a slower pace in October, although the economy appears poised to continue expanding. The Institute for Supply Management said Thursday that its services index fell to 54.8 last month, down from 57.1 in September.

The number of people who applied for unemployment benefits at the end of October rose by 7,000 to a three-month high of 265,000, but the rate of layoffs in the U.S. remains extremely low.

Oil prices tumbled 3 percent on Wednesday after a record weekly build in U.S. crude inventories stoked investor worries about a global supply glut. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled down by $1.33, or 2.9 percent, at $45.34 a barrel.Brent fell $1.28, or 2.7 percent, to settle at $46.86.

The Egyptian central bank said Thursday that it would float the country’s pound, an aggressive step meant to revive the sputtering economy and fulfill a key condition of a desperately needed $12 billion International Monetary Fund loan