Aftera positive close on Wednesday, bank and thrift stocks slipped into negativeterritory in morning trading Thursday, April 7. Around midday, the SNL U.S.Bank Index dropped 1.54% to 372.54 and the SNL U.S. Thrift Index wasdown 0.99% to 770.57.

Themajor indexes also moved lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average declining0.81% to 17,573.33, the S&P 500 sliding 0.87% to 2,048.66 andthe Nasdaq composite index falling 1.03% to 4,870.24.

Ineconomic news, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that in the week endingApril 2, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims was267,000, down 9,000 from the previous week's unrevised level. The medianforecast in a Bloombergsurvey of economists called for 270,000 claims.

Thefour-week moving average, meanwhile, was 266,750, up 3,500 from the previousweek's unrevised average, according to the Labor Department.

Amonglarge-caps, JPMorganChase & Co. retreated 1.32% to $58.04, dropped 1.45% to $47.38 and Bank ofAmerica Corp. went down 2.07% to $12.99 around midday.

fell1.77% to $41.12 in morning trading. Citi disclosed in a proxy statementfiled April 6 that the personnel and compensation committee of its boardmodified theperformance share unit awards granted to executives in February 2016,reflecting their performance in 2015.

Irvine,Calif.-based Banc of CaliforniaInc. announced April 6 that it has agreed 100% of its membership interestin Los Angeles-based Palisades Group LLC to Palisades Holdings I LLC. Banc ofCalifornia was trading at $17.33 around midday today, down 0.12% from theprevious close.

Billings,Mont.-based First InterstateBancSystem Inc. saw its stock slide 0.94% to $27.35, following newsthat its unit First InterstateBank is buying Bigfork, Mont.-based in a cashtransaction valued at about $34.2 million.

Inthe thrift space, Westbury, N.Y.-based New York Community Bancorp Inc. declined1.11% to $15.18; Cleveland-based TFS Financial Corp. (MHC) slipped 0.70% to$17.12; Short Hills, N.J.-based Investors Bancorp Inc. dropped 1.39% to $11.32; andJacksonville, Fla.-based EverBankFinancial Corp fell 2.36% to $14.46.

Market prices andindex values are current as of the time of publication and are subject tochange.