Stocks Hit by Crude Inventories (TheStreet)

Stocks closed lower Thursday as selling accelerated late in the session led by energy stocks, which slumped along with crude futures following a build in oil and supply inventories.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 94 points, or 0.9%, to 10,197. The S&P 500 lost 11 points, or 1.1%, to 1087, as the Nasdaq declined 18 points, or 0.8%, to 2149.
 
The price of crude oil settled at $76.94 a barrel after plunging $2.34, which was also pressured by a strengthening greenback. The Dollar Index gained 0.8%.

One analyst called the build "no real surprise." Though the slide in crude prices may have weighed on energy stocks, he added the selling may have just been a natural pullback.

"We tested some key resistance yesterday at 10,330," says Darin Newsom, senior commodities analyst at Telvent DTN. "This would just be a good reason to move some money around and get out of oil stocks. It's a good catalyst, but the Dow may just be running out of momentum here."