Stocks Ended Sharply Lower on North Korea Concerns

U.S. stocks ended sharply lower on Thursday, as investors grew cautious over escalating tensions between the United States and North Korea. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 204.69 points, or 0.93%, to 21,844.01. The S&P 500 dropped 35.81 points, or 1.45%, to 2,438.21. The Nasdaq Composite slid 135.46 points, or 2.13%, to 6,216.87.

Oil futures pulled back on Thursday, marking the lowest finish in more than two weeks, as a report from OPEC showed that crude production among the group’s members rose in July. September West Texas Intermediate crude shed 97 cents, or 2%, to settle at $48.59 a barrel. October Brent crude declined by 80 cents, or 1.5%, to $51.90 a barrel.

Snap Inc. reported worse-than-expected quarterly results on Thursday, with a loss that was steeper than expected and revenue that missed estimates. It reported djusted EPS of Loss of 16 cents per share and revenue of $181.7 million.

Nvidia Corp reported a 56 percent jump in quarterly revenue on Thursday, helped by strong demand for its chips used in data centers and gaming devices such as Nintendo Co Ltd’s Switch. The company’s net income more-than-doubled to $583 million, or 92 cents per share, in the second quarter ended July 30, from $261 million, or 41 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose for the fifteenth consecutive quarter to $2.23 billion from $1.43 billion.

Nordstrom (JWN) reported second-quarter earnings and sales on Thursday that topped analysts’ expectations.E The company reported earnings per share of 65 cents and revenue of $3.79 billion.