Stocks Closed Lower as Retail Sector Slumped

U.S. stocks closed lower on Thursday as retail stocks slumped on disappointing earnings from Macy’s Inc. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 23.69 points, or 0.11%, to 20,919.42. The S&P 500 slid 5.19 points, or 0.22%, to 2,394.44. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 13.18 points, or 0.22%, to 6,115.96.

Oil prices on Thursday marked their second-highest settlement of the month with traders encouraged by a bigger-than-expected decline in weekly U.S. crude inventories. June West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 50 cents, or 1.1%, to settle at $47.83 a barrel. July Brent crude picked up 55 cents, or 1.1%, to $50.77 a barrel.

American International Group (AIG.N) is planning to name former company executive Brian Duperreault as chief executive, the Wall Street Journal reported late on Wednesday. Duperreault is the head of Hamilton Insurance Group.

Wells Fargo & Co doubled its cost-cutting target on Thursday after seeing expenses soar in the aftermath of a sales scandal that the third-largest U.S. bank is still trying to recover from. Wells Fargo plans to reduce expenses by another $2 billion through the end of 2019, on top of a $2 billion cost-cutting target management previously announced.