Wall Street falls as weak earnings dent optimism; oil drags

U.S. stocks fell sharply on Thursday as weak earnings from index heavyweights such as Verizon dented optimism about the earnings season and as a drop in oil prices weighed on energy stocks. Verizon fell 2.3 percent, dragging the most on the S&P, after the wireless carrier reported a drop in quarterly revenue. The telecom services sector tumbled 1.9 percent, the most among the 11 major S&P 500 indexes.