U.S. stocks decline on rate hike concerns

U.S. stocks ended lower Thursday as investors worried that the possibility of a June rate hike becomes higher after the release of the Federal Reserve's minutes from its April meeting.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 91.22 points, or 0.52 percent, to 17,435.40. The S&P 500 lost 7.59 points, or 0.37 percent, to 2,040.04. The Nasdaq Composite Index dipped 26.59 points, or 0.56 percent, to 4,712.53.

U.S. Fed officials are open to an interest rate hike in June, if the economy continues to improve, showed the minutes of the Fed's April 26-27 meeting released Wednesday afternoon.

The minutes raised concerns that the Fed may be more hawkish on a second rate hike, which dampened investor sentiment.

Meanwhile, according to media reports, Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker defended the Fed's hawkish stance in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday, saying that the case is pretty strong for a June hike.

New York Fed President William Dudley also said Thursday that an interest-rate increase in June or July is possible if fresh data confirm his optimistic forecast of economic growth.

On the economic front, in the week ending May 14, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 278,000, a decrease of 16,000 from the previous week's unrevised level, said the U.S. Labor Department Thursday.

The four-week moving average was 275,750, an increase of 7,500 from the previous week's unrevised average of 268,250.

In corporate news, shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spiked 9.58 percent to 69.20 U.S. dollars apiece Thursday after the giant retailer delivered much-better-than-expected quarterly results. Endit