Stocks Hit by Crude Inventories

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stocks closed lower Thursday as selling accelerated late in the session led by energy stocks, which slumped along with crude futures following a build in oil and supply inventories.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 94 points, or 0.9%, to 10,197. The S&P 500 lost 11 points, or 1.1%, to 1087, as the Nasdaq declined 18 points, or 0.8%, to 2149. Walt Disney(DIS Quote) shares jumped 3% after hours following an 18% climb in quarterly earnings reported after the closing bell. Revenue climbed 4.5% to $9.87 billion. Excluding items, the media conglomerate and theme park operator posted earnings of 46 cents a share vs. the 41-cent consensus.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index, the Amex Oil Index and the NYSE Energy Index fell 3%, 1.9% and 2.1%, respectively.

The slump in the energy sector followed bearish news that crude stockpiles rose by 1.8 million barrels last week. The government report said distillates and gasoline inventories also grew, up 300,000 and 2.5 million, respectively. According to a survey by Platts, analysts expected a buildup of 1 million barrels of crude and 700,000 in gasoline. Distillates were expected to drop by 900,000.

The price of crude oil settled at $76.94 a barrel after plunging $2.34, which was also pressured by a strengthening greenback. The Dollar Index gained 0.8%.

Dow components Chevron(CVX Quote) and Exxon Mobil(XOM Quote) were down 1.4% each.

The S&P was weighed down by declines from a basket of oil and gas-related operations. Southwestern Energy(SWN Quote), Nabors Industries(NBR Quote), Range Resources(RRC Quote), Baker Hughes(BHI Quote) and Noble Energy(NBL Quote) were down 4.8%, 4.6%, 4.3%, 4.1% and 4.1%, respectively.