Economy: The Labor Department reported that retail prices fell 0.3% in May compared to April levels, driven down by the falling gas prices. It was the first drop in the Consumer Price Index in two years, and a slightly bigger drop than forecast.

Companies: Shares of cell phone maker Nokia dropped after the Finnish company announced it was cutting 10,000 jobs worldwide, and warned that competition in the smart phone business would hurt results somewhat more than expected in the second quarter.

Shares of meat producer Smithfield Foods slipped after the company reported a bigger-than-forecast drop in earnings.

Shares of grocery chain Kroger rose, after it reported a better than expected increase in earnings and a $1 billion share buyback program.

Yammer shares popped on reports that Microsoft is talks with the business social networking firm to buy it out.

AOL's stock fell after shareholders defied an activist's attempt to unseat three directors by voting to re-elect all eight members of AOL's board, including CEO Tim Armstrong.

World markets: European stocks closed mixed. Britain's FTSE 100 shed 0.2% and the DAX in Germany lost 0.2%, while France's CAC 40 ended barely in positive territory.

Asian markets finished in the red. The Shanghai Composite fell almost 1%, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong dropped 1.2% and Japan's Nikkei shed 0.2%.

Currencies and commodities: The dollar fell against the euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen.

Oil prices rose after OPEC said it will leave its official production ceiling unchanged, dashing hopes for an official increase that could have sent crude prices lower. Crude for July delivery rose $1.29 to settle at $83.91.

Gold futures for August delivery edged up 20 cents to settle at $1,619.60 an ounce.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell, pushing the yield up to 1.63% from 1.60% late Wednesday.