U.S. market indexes were lower Thursday. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18162.35 for a loss of -40.27 points or -0.22 percent. The S&P 500 closed at 2141.34 for a loss of -2.95 points or -0.14 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed lower at 5241.83 for a loss of -4.58 points or -0.09 percent. The VIX Volatility Index was lower for the day at 13.76 for a loss of -0.65 points or -4.51 percent.

Thursday’s Market Movers

On Thursday oil prices and telecommunications stocks weighed on valuations for the day. Economic reports included Jobless Claims, the Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook, Existing Home Sales and Leading Indicators. Jobless claims were up 13,000 to 260,000. The Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook fell to 9.7 from 12.8. Existing Home Sales increased 3.2 percent from the previous month to 5.470 million SAAR. The Leading Indicators report was up 0.2 percent for the month following a decrease of -0.2 percent.

Stocks trading actively for the day included the following:

Chesapeake Energy

Bank of America

eBay

Microsoft

Kinder Morgan

AT&T

General Electric

Wells Fargo

Verizon

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

The Travelers Companies -5.77

Verizon -2.46

Procter & Gamble -0.71

Caterpillar -0.69

Cisco -0.63

McDonald’s -0.62

Microsoft -0.49

Sectors leading losses in the broad market included industrials and technology. S&P 500 technology stocks were down 0.46 percent for the day. Stocks leading losses in technology included the following:

eBay -10.76

Alliance Data Systems -4.66

Verizon -2.46

AT&T -1.85

In commodities, gold traded lower as evidenced by the SPDR Gold Trust which reported a loss of -0.37 points or -0.31 percent. The dollar was higher for the day as the U.S. Dollar Index gained 0.45 points or 0.46 percent to 98.30.

Small-Cap Stocks

In small-caps, the Russell 2000 Index was lower at 1219.79 for a loss of -2.85 points or -0.23 percent. The S&P 600 Small-Cap Index was lower at 735.70 for a loss of -4.62 points or -0.62 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Growth TSM Index was lower at 7385.73 for a loss of -18.97 points or -0.26 percent. The Dow Jones Small-Cap Value TSM Index was lower at 8626.88 for a loss of -24.36 points or -0.28 percent.

Other Notable Indexes

Other notable index closes included the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1527.92 for a loss of -6.11 points or -0.40 percent; the S&P 100 Index at 949.12 for a loss of -0.89 points or -0.09 percent; the Russell 3000 Index at 1266.47 for a loss of -2.09 points or -0.16 percent; the Russell 1000 Index at 1186.41 for a loss of -1.89 points or -0.16 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 600.92 for a loss of -3.00 points or -0.50 percent.