Stocks Ended Lower amid Trade concerns

U.S. stocks ended lower on Thursday as a top Trump administration advisor signaled the U.S. and China still have a ways to go before reaching a deal on trade. The Dow Industrial Average declined 220.77 points, or 0.87%, to 25,169.53. The S&P 500 was down 25.56 points, or 0.94%, to 2,706.05. The Nasdaq Composite fell 86.93 points, or 1.18%, to 7,288.35.

On Thursday morning, BB&T (BBT) and SunTrust (STI) announced that they would be forming the sixth-largest bank in the United States by joining in a merger of equals, with BB&T shareholders owning about 57% of the pro-forma company and SunTrust shareholders owning about 43%.