Stocks fall, giving up earlier gains on concern about bad loans in the banking industry

Stocks fell Thursday, giving up earlier gains, led by declines in bank stocks on worries about bad loans. Traders also juggled persistent trade tensions and an ongoing U.S. government shutdown.

The S&P 500 traded 0.2% lower, giving up a 0.6% gain at the highs of the session. The Nasdaq Composite

 was little changed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average

 lost 172 points, or 0.4%. All three indexes were trading higher earlier in the session.

Regional banks Zions and Western Alliance fell to their lows of the day as indexes rolled over. Zions dropped nearly 9% after taking a sizable charge because of bad loans to a couple borrowers. Western Alliance fell 8% after alleging a borrower had committed fraud.

“The market is just really skittish about credit-related losses,” Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management, told CNBC. “The market is not very happy about [the regional banks’ reports], so most small-cap financials, banks are down today.”