U.S. stocks ended lower on Thursday, as oil prices plunged and investors anticipated the government's monthly jobs report. In world markets, European stocks ended lower, with the FTSE 100 in Britain falling 1 percent. Asian markets ended mixed, as the Shanghai Composite rose 0.2 percent and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 0.2 percent. In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department is expected to release a report on Friday showing employers added 185,000 jobs in April, according to economist forecasts. The unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 8.8 percent. Meanwhile, the government reported on Thursday that the number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits rose sharply last week. In U.S. company news, automaker General Motors reported a first-quarter net profit of $3.2 billion, its fifth consecutive profitable quarter. Shares fell about 2 percent. The U.S. dollar rose versus the euro but fell versus the yen. Light sweet crude oil for June delivery plunged $9.44 to $99.80 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures fell $26.30 to $1,489 an ounce. Silver prices fell $2.58 to $36.80 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 139.41, or 1.1 percent, to 12,584.17. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 12.22, or 0.9 percent, to 1,335.10. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 13.51, or 0.5 percent, to 2,814.72.
