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
Themajor indexes also moved lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average
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,
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.
Market prices andindex values are current as of the time of publication and are subject tochange.