S&P 500 under 2000 for first time since Dec. 16
Stocks continue to blaze a volatile path as the major indexes bounced from losses to gains, and then finally back to losses in the afternoon on up to the closing bell.
The markets' losing streak is now at five days, with major benchmarks well into the red for the year.
Hardest hit was the Nasdaq composite, losing 1.5%. The S&P 500 fell 0.9%, while the Dow Jones industrial average ended down 106 points, a loss of 0.6%.
The S&P 500 lost 18.6 points to close at 1992.67. It was the first time the broad index has closed below 2000 since Dec. 16.
Investors digested a large batch of reports on bank earnings, the dropping of a Swiss currency cap, economic data and retail news. Oil continued its slide, with U.S. crude dropping 4.6% to settle at $46.25 a barrel, Reuters reported.
Financial markets were given a jolt early Thursday after Switzerland's central bank unexpectedly scrapped its currency cap against the euro. U.S. stock futures and European markets took a dive after the announcement before recovering.
Switzerland's central bank says it is ending its minimum exchange rate policy that was meant to keep the euro from falling below 1.20 Swiss francs.
The Swiss National Bank said in a statement Thursday that the measure, introduced in Sept. 2011, "protected the Swiss economy from serious harm" but is no longer justified.
Bank earnings were disappointing as Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C) reported profit that missed Wall Street expectations. Shares of both banks fell more than 3%. That followed an earnings miss from JPMorgan Chase (JPM) the day before. Wells Fargo (WFC) managed to match estimates.
In retail news:
• Target (TGT) announced it was discontinuing its Canadian operations and shuttering all its stores in the country. Shares jumped 1.8% as investors cheer the exit from the poorly managed expansion.
• Best Buy (BBY) tumbled 14.1% after the consumer electronics retailer said holiday sales rose but then warned that falling prices and slower demand was expected to hurt sales in the first half of the year.
• Shares of Radio Shack (RSH) nosedived 35.6% on a report that the struggling retailer could file for bankruptcy protection as soon as next month. The Wall Street Journal reported the consumer electronics retailer is in talks with a private-equity firm that could buy its assets out of bankruptcy, citing sources familiar with the people involved in the matter.
European markets recovered and staged a rally after initially dropping off of the Swiss move. Britain's FTSE 100 was up1.5%, France's CAC 40 jumped 2.4% and Germany's DAX added 2.1%.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index was up 1.9% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 1%. The Shanghai Composite gained 3.5%.
The benchmark U.S. crude futures contract fell 1.8% to $47.50 a barrel in electronic NYMEX trading.
In other news overseas:
Germany's economy grew by 1.5% last year, its strongest showing in three years thanks to increasingly strong spending at home and still-healthy exports, official data showed Thursday.
The Reserve Bank of India cut its key interest rate Thursday by a quarter percentage point in a surprise move that adds impetus to government efforts to revive Asia's third-biggest economy.
The decision to lower the rate to 7.75%, announced more than two weeks before the central bank's planned monetary policy review on Feb. 3, follows several months of declines in India's stubbornly high inflation.
South Korea's central bank Thursday cut its forecasts for economic growth this year, citing a weaker-than-expected fourth quarter.
Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol said Asia's fourth-largest economy will expand 3.4% in 2015, not 3.9% the central bank predicted in October.
On Wednesday, Wall Street extended its losses following a weak reading on holiday retail sales, disappointing earnings from investment bank JPMorgan and a global sell-off on renewed fears over slowing economic growth.
Contributing: Adam Shell, Paste BN, Associated Press