Stocks sink broadly dragged down by banking sector

Stocks ended broadly lower Thursday, led by declines in banks.

Goldman Sachs sank 3 percent and JPMorgan Chase lost 2.5 percent, two of the biggest losses in the Dow Jones industrial average. Verizon gave up 2.8 percent.

At the close on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 174.1 points, about 1 percent, to nearly 17,542. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 24.8 points, about 1.2 percent, to nearly 2,042; the biggest decline in about six weeks. The Nasdaq composite fell 72.4 points, about 1.5 percent, to 4,848.4.

About the same time, the price of U.S. benchmark crude oil slipped 31 cents to to $37.44 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, the price of the international benchmark, Brent crude, was down 22 cents to $39.60 a barrel.