Thursday's early afternoon trade: stocks lower over rising global growth fears

Wall Street was lower on Thursday as oil prices slid and investors worried that measures taken by central banks may not be enough to put the global economy back on track. Crude fell more than 2 percent as a rise in Iraqi exports offset gains from an unexpected fall in US inventories. Exxon fell 1.4 percent. Minutes from the Fed's March meeting released on Wednesday pointed to concerns about the central bank's limited ability to tackle a global economic slowdown, reducing the odds of a rate increase before June.
While the Fed has projected two rate increases this year, the market is pricing in a near 60-percent chance of a hike in December, according to CME Group's FedWatch Programme. First-quarter earnings at S&P 500 companies are expected to decline 7.4 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data. At 12:40 pm ET, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 158.44 points, or 0.89 percent, at 17,557.61, the S&P 500 was down 21.19 points, or 1.03 percent, at 2,045.47 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 58.73 points, or 1.19 percent, at 4,861.98.
All 10 major S&P sectors were lower, led by a 1.65 percent fall in the telecom sector. Verizon led the selloff, falling 2.8 percent to $52.01, after Jefferies and Bernstein cut their ratings on the stock. Apple's 1.3 percent decline to $109.54 weighed the most on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. Goldman Sachs was the biggest drag on the Dow, slipping 2.5 percent to $151.27.