By Michael Wursthorn and Riva Gold 

The S&P 500 snapped a three-day winning streak Thursday, as tumbling shares of consumer-staple companies pulled the broad index lower.

Investors were jarred by the weak earnings reports of some of the world's biggest consumer-product firms. That sent shares of those companies into a tailspin and dashed what could have been the S&P 500's first four-day run of gains since mid-February.

Shares of Philip Morris International suffered their biggest single-day decline ever, while household-product makers were punished for Procter & Gamble's disappointing sales and signs the broader industry is struggling to raise prices.

Although investors have been more muted in their response to companies that have reported stronger-than-expected results so far, those that miss expectations or offer weak guidance have faced a harsh rebuke.

"People believed these companies were solid. You take a Procter & Gamble or a Unilever, and you think about them as cornerstones of your portfolio," said Arian Vojdani, an investment strategist with MV Financial, which manages $650 million in assets. "Consumer staples don't look as strong as people expected."

The S&P 500 fell 0.6%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 83 points, or 0.3%, to 24665. The Nasdaq dropped 0.8%.

Investors worry that consumer-product makers are in a rut, as weak inflation, Amazon.com's push into selling more household goods and shoppers' fading loyalty to name brands make it hard for those companies to raise prices and grow anywhere near the rates of the market's most desirable stocks, such as tech companies.

"There's more disruption ahead for folks who aren't able to adjust to some of the different buying habits of people," said Mark Heppenstall, chief investment officer at Penn Mutual Asset Management.

Philip Morris, the seller of Marlboro cigarettes, was the biggest drag on the broad index after it reported revenue that missed analysts' expectations and cautioned investors that slowing sales volume in the Middle East and other markets, along with pricing competition, could be a drag on earnings this year.

Shares fell 16% to hit their lowest price since 2015.

Procter & Gamble, the maker of Tide detergent and Bounty paper towels, reported weak sales growth in key markets, especially in its Gillette shaving business. Shares slipped 3.3%.

European consumer-goods companies were also under pressure after Unilever, which sells Dove soap and Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and Nestlé both struggled to raise prices in the first quarter and logged some of their weakest sales growth in years. Unilever shares fell 2.2%, while Nestlé rose 0.2%.

The broader consumer-staple group in the S&P 500 fell 3.1%, as cigarette makers and household-product companies like Clorox and Church & Dwight declined.

Technology companies stumbled, with chip makers among the biggest decliners. The Technology Select Sector SPDR exchange-traded fund fell 1%, cutting its weekly gain nearly in half.

Financial stocks, meanwhile, rose as bond yields moved higher, but the gains weren't enough to offset the broad declines suffered in most of the S&P 500's other sectors.

The KBW Bank index of the biggest U.S. banks added 1.7%, with many of its constituents rising on a jump in yield of the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note. Higher interest rates typically widen the spread between what banks charge on loans and what they pay on deposits, which should boost their earnings.

The yield for the 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose to 2.914%, its highest since late February, from 2.867% a day earlier.

Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 rose less than 0.1%. Earlier, Asia-Pacific stocks mostly rose, supported by gains in energy companies and Chinese markets.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.4%, while Australia's S&P ASX 200 edged up 0.3%. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.8% and Japan's Nikkei Stock Average edged up 0.2% in its fifth straight session of advances.

Write to Michael Wursthorn at Michael.Wursthorn@wsj.com and Riva Gold at riva.gold@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 19, 2018 16:56 ET (20:56 GMT)