U.S. stocks turn lower on oil prices, Apple

U.S. stocks traded in a range on Thursday, as oil prices pared earlier gains and Apple shares declines weighed the market.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 45.51 points, or 0.26 percent, to 17,665.61. The S&P 500 shed 7.18 points, or 0.35 percent, to 2,057.28. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 39.46 points, or 0.83 percent, to 4,721.23.

Oil prices struggled for gains Thursday after U.S. crude oil topped 47 U.S. dollars a barrel before the opening bell.

Shares of Apple dropped over 2 percent in the morning session, and all three major indexes turned lower with tech lagging.

On the economic front, in the week ending May 7, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 294,000, an increase of 20,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 274,000, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday. This is the highest level for initial claims since Feb. 28, 2015 when it was 310,000.

Meanwhile, investors also kept a close eye on some U.S. Federal Reserve voting members scheduled to speak later Thursday for clues on the future path of interest rate hike by the central bank.

U.S. stocks pulled back Wednesday as Wall Street assessed a batch of disappointing corporate earnings reports. Enditem