Mid-Day Market Update: U.S. Stocks Turn Lower; STAAR Surgical Shares Drop Following Weak Results

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.30 percent to 17,656.98 while the NASDAQ declined 0.87 percent to 4,719.37. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.38 percent to 2,056.67. Leading and Lagging Sectors On Thursday, the utilities sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Top gainers in the sector included RGC Resources Inc. RGCO, Empresa Distribuidora y Cmrz Nrt SA(ADR) EDN, and Enbridge Inc (USA) ENB. In trading on Thursday, technology shares fell by 0.6 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Himax Technologies, Inc. (ADR) HIMX, down 14 percent, and 21Vianet Group Inc VNET, down 10 percent. Top Headline Kohl's Corporation KSS reported downbeat results for its first quarter on Thursday. Kohl's earnings dropped 86 percent to $0.17 a share from $0.63 a share in the year-ago quarter. Excluding items, its net income would have dropped 55% to $58 million from $127 million while earnings would have fallen 50 percent to $0.31 a share from $0.63 a share in the corresponding period of the last year. The company's sales fell 3.7 percent to $3.97 billion from $4.12 billion in the previous year quarter. Both earnings and revenue fell short of analysts' expectations of $0.37 a share and $4.13 billion. Its comparable store sales fell 3.9 percent whereas it recorded a gain of 1.4 percent in the preceding year period. Equities Trading UP LSB Industries, Inc. LXU shares shot up 37 percent to $14.51 as the company agreed to sell its Climate Control business to NIBE Industrier for $364 million in cash. Shares of Cnova NV CNV got a boost, shooting up 41 percent to $4.80 as Casino SA announced plans to launch tender offer to acquire Cnova for $5.50 per share. Infoblox Inc BLOX shares were also up, gaining 22 percent to $18.68. Infoblox is said to have received an offer from Thoma Bravo to take the company private, according to sources as reported by Bloomberg on Wednesday. The sources said Infoblox is considering hiring advisers to explore strategic options. Equities Trading DOWN CPI Card Group Inc PMTS shares dropped 41 percent to $4.49 as the company reported weaker-than-expected results for its first quarter and lowered its FY16 forecast. Shares of STAAR Surgical Company STAA were down 19 percent to $5.99 as the company reported downbeat results for its first quarter. Parnell Pharmaceuticals Holdings Ltd PARN was down, falling around 17 percent to $1.62. Parnell Pharma priced 2.55 million shares for $4.2 million. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded up 0.17 percent to $46.31 while gold traded up 0.20 percent to $1,278.10. Silver traded up 0.35 percent Thursday to $17.38, while copper fell 0.05 percent to $2.10. Eurozone European shares were mostly lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 fell 0.27 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.12 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index fell 0.23 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX dipped 0.93 percent, and the French CAC 40 slipped 0.22 percent while U.K. shares fell 0.66 percent. Economics U.S. jobless claims surged 20,000 to 294,000 in the latest week. Economists were expecting claims to drop to 270,000 in the week. U.S. import prices increased 0.3 percent in April, while export prices gained 0.5 percent for the month. Supplies of natural gas gained 56 billion cubic feet for the week ended May 6, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported.