U.S. market indexes were lower Thursday. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18479.91 for a loss of -46.23 points or -0.25 percent. The S&P 500 was also lower, closing at 2181.30 for a loss of -4.86 points or -0.22 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed lower at 5259.48 for a loss of -24.44 points or -0.46 percent. The VIX Volatility Index was higher at 12.31 for a gain of 0.37 points or 3.10 percent.

Thursday’s Market Movers

Leading reports on the economic calendar on Thursday included Jobless Claims, the Quarterly Services Survey, the EIA Petroleum Status Report, Consumer Credit and average mortgage rates. Jobless claims decreased by 4,000 for the week to 259,000. The Quarterly Services Survey, which represents revenue levels for information and technology services firms, was down -0.1 percent from the previous quarter. The EIA Petroleum Status Report showed oil inventories down 14.5 million barrels for the week. Consumer credit increased by $17.7 billion which was above consensus of $15.6 billion. Mortgage rates were lower for the week according to Freddie Mac. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 3.44 percent from 3.46 percent. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was lower at 2.76 percent which was down from 2.77 percent.

Stocks were lower for the day as investors mostly followed the affects from the European Central Bank’s monetary policy meeting which kept central bank borrowing rates unchanged at 0 percent. Stocks were lower as fixed income yields gained from the day’s news overseas.

For the day, stocks trading actively included the following:

Chesapeake Energy

Bank of America

Apple

Ford

Kinder Morgan Inc.

General Electric

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Marathon Oil Corp.

In the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the following stocks led losses:

Losses (percent)

Nike Inc                -2.69

Apple Inc             -2.62

International Business Machines Corp     -1.63

The Travelers Companies Inc       -1.5

The Home Depot Inc       -1.15

Sectors leading losses in the broad market included real estate and consumer discretionary. Technology was also lower with S&P 500 technology companies down -0.82 percent. Stocks leading losses in the technology sector included the following:

Losses (percent)

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp      -3.8

Charter Communications Inc       -3.21

Apple Inc             -2.67

In commodities, gold traded lower as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a loss of -0.68 points or -0.53 percent. The dollar was higher for the day as the U.S. Dollar Index gained 0.07 points or 0.07 percent to 95.03.

Small-Cap Stocks

In small-caps, the Russell 2000 Index was lower at 1258.36 for a loss of -2.65 points or -0.21 percent. The S&P 600 Small-Cap Index was lower at 762.63 for a loss of -2.84 points or -0.37 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index was lower at 7650.64 for a loss of -19.90 points or -0.26 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index was lower at 8876.17 for a loss of -31.33 points or -0.35 percent.

Other Notable Indexes

Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1574.28 for a loss of -7.23 points or -0.46 percent; the S&P 100 Index at 964.34 for a loss of -1.78 points or -0.18 percent; the Russell 3000 Index at 1292.72 for a loss of -3.01 points or -0.23 percent; the Russell 1000 Index at 1209.94 for a loss of -2.84 points or -0.23 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 622.40 for a gain of 0.09 points or 0.01 percent.