Stocks Battered on Down Day

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Major U.S. equity indices closed lower Thursday after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi warned of risks to the eurozone economy. In addition, U.S. economic data came in weaker than expected.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 42 points, or 0.3%, to 13,944.

Breadth was deeply negative as decliners outpaced gainers 24 to six. The biggest decliners were Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) , Caterpillar (CAT) , Pfizer (PFE) and Exxon Mobil (XOM) .

Top advancers on the Dow were Coca-Cola (KO) , American Express (AXP) , Boeing (BA) and United Technologies (UTX) .

Boeing said it would propose battery design changes to minimize fire hazards for its grounded 787 Dreamliner, according to a Wall Street Journal article. The company said it hopes its embattled plane would begin to fly as soon as March. Boeing shares were up 1.5%.

Volumes totaled 3.56 billion on the Big Board and 1.95 billion on the Nasdaq. Losers led winners by a 1.3-to-1 ratio on the New York Stock Exchange and a 1.6-to-1 ratio on the tech-heavy index.

The S&P 500 lost 3 points, or 0.2%, to 1,509. The Nasdaq was shed 3 points, or 0.1%, to 3,165.

"I clearly think we're in a bull market, and part of being in a bull market is we're going to have consolidation and pullbacks," said Mike Boyle, portfolio manager at Advisors Asset Management. "We've been on a phenomenal run since about 10 days after the 2012 election ... and our study of markets says that about every 90 days during a bull market you need to have, you should have, history says you do have a 3% to 5% pullback."

The Labor Department reported nonfarm business productivity dipped 2% in the fourth quarter. The number was higher than the 1.3% decrease a consensus among economists had expected. The report comes a week after a surprise 0.1% contraction in gross domestic product last Wednesday.