Major US stock indices dropped significantly, as weak profit and loss reports of industrial companies raised concerns about rising costs and the impact of tariffs, which added to concerns about higher borrowing costs after comments in the Fed's minutes.

The focus was also on US data, which showed that the initial applications for unemployment benefits in the US fell last week, and the number of repeat requests fell to a level that was last fixed in 1973, which implies a further tightening of market conditions labor. The initial applications for unemployment benefits fell last week, taking into account seasonal fluctuations by 5,000 to 210,000, data from the Ministry of Labor showed. Economists had forecast a decline in the number of complaints to 212,000.

Meanwhile, in September, the Conference Board's leading indicators index (LEI) for the USA increased by 0.5% to 111.8 (2016 = 100), after increasing by 0.4% in August and by 0.7% in July. The leading economic index now significantly exceeds the previous peak at 102.4, set in March 2006.

Oil prices fell on Thursday, as the fourth weekly increase in US crude stocks indicated adequate supply, while Saudi-US tensions and a drop in Iranian exports supported prices.

Most of the components of DOW finished trading in the red (24 of 30). Caterpillar Inc. shares turned out to be an outsider. (CAT, -3.92%). The growth leader was Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ, + 1.30%).

All sectors of the S & P recorded a decline. The largest decline was shown by the technology sector (-2.0%)

At the time of closing:

Dow 25,379.45 -327.23 -1.27%

S & P 500 2,768.78 -40.43 -1.44%

Nasdaq 100 7,485.14 -157.56 -2.06%

U.S. stock-index futures fell on Thursday, as investors continued to digest the minutes from the last Fed meeting, which showed that officials generally agreed to raise rates further, possibly above levels assessed to prevail in the long-run.

Global Stocks:

(company / ticker / price / change ($/%) / volume)

NIKE (NKE) upgraded to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer

Travelers (TRV) reported Q3 FY 2018 earnings of $2.54 per share (versus $0.91 in Q3 FY 2017), beating analysts' consensus estimate of $2.26.

The company's quarterly revenues amounted to $6.882 bln (+5.5% y/y), generally in-line with analysts' consensus estimate of $6.835 bln.

TRV fell to $124.80 (-1.3%) in pre-market trading.

Alcoa (AA) reported Q3 FY 2018 earnings of $0.63 per share (versus $0.72 in Q3 FY 2017), beating analysts' consensus estimate of $0.34.

The company's quarterly revenues amounted to $3.390 bln (+14.4% y/y), beating analysts' consensus estimate of $3.351 bln.

AA rose to $38.90 (+5.99%) in pre-market trading.