Stocks have second-worst day in 2017

U.S. stocks dived Thursday as losses for Cisco Systems hurt technology companies while Wal-Mart declined after its latest quarterly report. Banks dropped as bond yields and interest rates sank for a second day.

It was the second-worst day for stocks this year. Tech, retail and transportation firms skidded, and all the industrial, financial and basic materials firms in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell. Those sectors tend to struggle when investors are concerned about economic growth, but there were no specific signs of economic trouble Thursday.

High-dividend stocks such as utilities and real estate firms fared slightly better than the rest of the market, although they still fell. About 95% of the companies in the S&P 500 declined.

Speculation that the Federal Reserve is becoming more cautious about raising interest rates helped push down long-term interest rates in the bond market. Lower bond yields tend to hurt banks and benefit highdividend stocks.

Investors were also assessing the state of President Trump’s businessfriendly agenda as he continues to face criticism over his comments after the recent violence in Charlottesville, Va.“Most of the agenda has been a little bit distracted by noneconomic factors,” said Bill Northey, chief investment officer at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.

Investors also looked for safer investments after a deadly van attack in Spain.

Cisco Systems slid 4% to $31.04 after it said its sales would fall this quarter.

Data storage firm NetApp sank 6.7% to $39.56 after its forecast for this quarter disappointed investors. Apple fell 1.9% to $157.87. Adobe Systems declined 2.4% to $148.23. Texas Instruments fell 2.8% to $80.15.

Wal-Mart did better than expected in the second quarter as shoppers spent more on its website and more people went to its stores. But that wasn’t enough to sustain a rally in its stock, which fell 1.6% to $79.70.

L Brands, the parent of Victoria’s Secret, sank 3.6% to $37.55 after it cut its annual profit forecast because of weakening sales. Amazon fell 1.8% to $960.57. Macy’s fell 2.6% to $19.62.

Still, it’s been another strong quarter of corporate earnings. Per-share profits for S&P 500 companies are up almost 11% from the same quarter last year. Energy firms’ profits have quadrupled because the price of oil has stabilized, and tech firms have posted big gains.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.19% from 2.23%.

Benchmark U.S. crude rose 31 cents to $47.09 a barrel. Brent crude rose 76 cents to $51.03 a barrel. Wholesale gasoline rose 2 cents to $1.59 a gallon. Heating oil rose 1 cent to $1.58 a gallon. Natural gas rose 4 cents to $2.93 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold rose $9.50 to $1,292.40 an ounce. Silver rose 11 cents to $17.05 an ounce. Copper fell 2 cents to $2.94 a pound.

The dollar fell to 109.67 yen from 110.16 yen. The euro fell to $1.1742 from $1.1769.