US stocks ended Thursday’s session with a drop as investors received mixed bank profits and Elon Musk’s offer to make Twitter private. Ticker Security Last change% I: DJI DOW JONES AVERAGES 34451.23 -113.36 -0.33% SP500 S&P 500 4392.59 -54.00 -1.21% I: COMP NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX -29% -2955 -29.00. For the week, as financial markets are closed for Good Friday, all three major averages recorded losses. Fred DeMarco, right, works with fellow New York Stock Exchange traders Friday, February 2, 2018. Technology companies were generally moving stocks lower at the start of trading, extending the market slide to a second day. (AP Photo / Richard Drew) Twitter abandoned profits after Tesla CEO Elon Musk offered to privatize the company in a $ 40 billion deal. He noted that the offer is his best and final. Twitter’s board is meeting today to consider the deal. Speaking to TED, Musk insisted he had the funds to fund the deal and if Twitter did not accept it, he said he had another plan without being specific. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported that the social media giant could use a poison pill strategy, a method to repel unwanted acquisitions, in an effort to defeat Musk. Ticker Security Last change% TWTR TWITTER INC. 45.08 -0.77 -1.68% Tesla, of which Musk is the CEO, saw its shares fall as investors pondered how his battle for Twitter could affect the auto industry. Ticker Security Last change Change% TSLA TESLA INC. 985.00 -37.37 -3.66% Shares of Wells Fargo fell after both profits and earnings fell from the same period a year ago. The bank’s revenue was $ 17.6 billion versus $ 18.5 billion, while it was $ 0.88 versus $ 1.02 a year ago. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT FOX BUSINESS Ticker Security Last change% WFC WELLS FARGO & CO. 46.33 -2.24 -4.61% Goldman Sachs returned to earnings after earnings and earnings exceeded Wall Street estimates, although the results were lower than a year ago. A similar story unfolded at Morgan Stanley, whose shares closed higher. JPMORGAN PROFITS DECREASE 42% IN SLOWING OFFERS, TRANSACTIONS Ticker Security Last change% GS THE GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC. 321.45 -0.94 -0.29% MS MORGAN STANLEY 84.79 +0.58 + 0.69% Oil rose about 8% during the short trading week, with US crude closing at $ 106.95 a barrel and Brent at $ 111.70. RUSSIA INVASES UKRAINE: LIVE UPDATES Ticker Security Last change% USO UNITED STATES OIL FUND LP 79.57 +1.15 + 1.47% BNO UNITED STS BRENT OIL FD LP UNIT 31.70 +0.69 + 2.23% GET FOX BUSINESS IN ENGINE BY CLICKING HERE In the financial data new claims for unemployment benefits increased to 185,000 from 167,000 last week. Ongoing claims, which track the total number of unemployed receiving benefits, fell to 1.475 million. Retail sales in March increased by 0.5% on a monthly basis, excluding car sales which increased by 1.1%. For the year, sales increased by 6.9%. WHOLESALE PRICES INCREASE 11.2% IN MARCH, HIGHEST LEVEL IN RECORD Prices of imported products increased by 2.6% on a monthly basis, the largest increase in the last 11 years. Export prices increased by 4.5% The University of Michigan consumer sentiment rose 65.7 points in April from 59.4 in March, the highest level since January.
Bitcoin bounced before falling below the $ 40,000 level. GET FOX BUSINESS IN ENGINE BY CLICKING HERE Ken Martin of FOX Business and the Associated Press contributed to this report.