Stocks Close Lower With Sharp Tech Losses

Stocks are closing lower Thursday, with technology and industrial companies taking the sharpest losses after Senate Republicans surprised Wall Street by proposing a delay in cutting corporate taxes, the AP reports. EBay slid 3.5% and Microsoft fell 0.6%. Among industrial companies, Johnson Controls sank 6.1% and Boeing lost 0.6%. Media companies rose after a strong third-quarter report from Twenty-First Century Fox, which gained 3%. Macy's climbed 11% after its quarterly profit surpassed analyst estimates. Competitor Kohl's didn't fare as well and rose only 0.9%. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 9 points, or 0.4%, to 2,584. The Dow Jones industrial average declined 101 points, or 0.4%, to 23,461. The Nasdaq composite index fell 39 points, or 0.6%, to 6,750. (More stock market stories.)