Mid-Day Market Update: US Stocks Turn Lower; Omega Protein Shares Drop Following Q4 Results

Midway through trading Thursday, the Dow traded down 0.46 percent to 16,922.40 while the NASDAQ declined 0.48 percent to 4,651.74. The S&P also fell, dropping 0.34 percent to 1,982.45. Leading and Lagging Sectors On Thursday, healthcare shares rose by 0.58 percent. Top gainers in the sector included Flamel Technologies S.A. (ADR) FLML, Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. SPPI, and Sarepta Therapeutics Inc SRPT. In trading on Thursday, energy shares dipped by 0.90 percent. Meanwhile, top losers in the sector included Williams Companies Inc WMB, down 9 percent, and BP Prudhoe Bay Royalty Trust BPT, down 12 percent. Top Headline Dollar General Corp. DG reported upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter on Thursday. Dollar General posted a quarterly profit of $376.2 million, or $1.30 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $355.4 million, or $1.17 per share. Its sales rose 7.1 percent to $5.29 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.26 per share on revenue of $5.3 billion. Its same-store sales climbed 2.2 percent for the quarter. Equities Trading UP Vericel Corp VCEL shares shot up 106 percent to $4.38 on positive Phase 2b ixCELL-DCM data. Shares of Pacific Ethanol Inc PEIX got a boost, shooting up 28 percent to $5.39 after the company reported stronger-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter. Christopher & Banks Corporation CBK shares were also up, gaining 38 percent to $2.61. Christopher & Banks reported a Q4 loss of $0.24 per share on revenue of $94.6 million. The company projects Q1 revenue of $93 million to $98 million. Equities Trading DOWN InfoSonics Corporation IFON shares dropped 38 percent to $1.16. InfoSonics reported a Q4 loss of $0.07 per share on revenue of $10.2 million. Shares of Energy Focus Inc EFOI were down 37 percent to $8.28 after the company reported weaker-than-expected Q4 results. Omega Protein Corporation OME was down, falling around 24 percent to $16.65 after the company reported weaker-than-expected results for its fourth quarter. Commodities In commodity news, oil traded down 1.62 percent to $37.67, while gold traded up 0.68 percent to $1,266.00. Silver traded up 1.56 percent Thursday to $15.61, while copper fell 0.25 percent to $2.23. Eurozone European shares were mostly higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.42 percent, the Spanish Ibex Index rose 2.94 percent, while Italy's FTSE MIB Index jumped 2.46 percent. Meanwhile, the German DAX climbed 0.54 percent, and the French CAC 40 gained 1.49 percent, while U.K. shares fell 0.23 percent. Economics US jobless claims declined 18,000 to 259,000 in the first week of March. However, economists were expecting initial jobless claims to reach 275,000 in the week.