U.S. stocks fall amid earnings, economic data

U.S. stocks dipped Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average snapping a nine-day winning streak, as investors digested quarterly earnings and economic data.

The Dow fell 77.80 points, or 0.42 percent, to 18,517.23. The S&P 500 lost 7.85 points, or 0.36 percent, to 2,165.17. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 16.03 points, or 0.31 percent, to 5,073.90.

In corporate news, General Motors announced Thursday second-quarter net income to common stockholders of 2.9 billion U.S. dollars, up 157 percent compared to 1.1 billion in the second quarter of 2015. Earnings per diluted share increased to 1.81 dollars, compared to 67 cents in the second quarter a year ago. General Motors' shares rose 1.71 percent to 32.03 U.S. dollars apiece following the release.

Shares of Intel dropped 3.98 percent to 34.27 dollars apiece Thursday after the company reported slowing revenue growth at its key data center business.

The giant chipmaker said that its second-quarter revenue was 13.5 billion dollars, and its quarterly net income was 1.3 billion dollars, or 27 cents per share.

The latest data from Thomson Reuters showed that the S&P 500 companies' blended earnings in the second quarter of 2016 are expected to decrease 3.8 percent year on year, while the revenues are forecast to decline 0.6 percent.

On the economic front, in the week ending July 16, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 253,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's unrevised level, the U.S. Labor Department announced Thursday.

Overseas, European equities closed narrowly mixed Thursday after the European Central Bank left its key interest rate unchanged. German benchmark DAX index at Frankfurt Stock Exchange rose 0.14 percent, while British benchmark FTSE 100 Index fell 0.43 percent.

In Asia, Chinese the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index moved up 0.37 percent to 3,039.01 points Thursday, led by communication and transportation shares. Enditem