On The Fly: Top stock stories for Thursday

Stocks began the day in negative territory but crossed into positive ground as politicians met to try and hammer out a deal on the Trump healthcare bill. When reports surfaced that a final draft had been offered to the Freedom Caucus and a deal had not been reached, stocks pared their gains and ultimately fell into negative territory when it became obvious a vote would not occur today. Many look at getting a deal done as a proxy for the Trump administration's ability to make headway on other initiatives, including tax reform and infrastructure spending. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., initial jobless claims surged 15,000 to 258,000 last week after a 6,000 decline to 243,000 in the prior one. New home sales rose 6.1% to a 592,000 rate in February, which was better than expected. Gas inventories showed a 150 billion cubic feet draw versus consensus of a 153 billion cubic feet draw. In Europe, a Eurozone consumer confidence reading rose by 1.2 points to -5.0 in March, beating market expectations of a more modest rise to -5.7. COMPANY NEWS: Ford (F) dropped 0.85% to $11.67 after the automaker said its profit will fall in the current quarter compared to the same period of last year due to higher costs, lower volume, and unfavorable foreign exchange movements... Conversely, shares of PVH Corp. (PVH) gained 8.5% to $98.55 after the owner of the Calvin Klein brand reported better than expected fourth quarter results and guidance... Meanwhile, Walt Disney (DIS) announced that it has extended Robert Iger's contract as Chairman and CEO of the company to July 2, 2019. Iger said he is "confident that Disney's best days are still ahead" but added, according to Bloomberg, that he won't extend his contract again beyond this... Alphabet (GOOGL) Class A shares ended the trading day down 1.2% at $839.65 after media reports saying Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) has suspended advertising from YouTube and other Google properties over concerns the tech giant isn't doing enough to prevent brands' ads from appearing next to offensive material. The pharmaceutical company joins AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ), who had announced yesterday that they were putting much of their advertising spending with Google on hold, excluding search ads, over similar concerns. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the notable gainers was FireEye (FEYE), which advanced 6% after Goldman Sachs analyst Gabriela Borges double upgraded the stock to Buy as she sees an emerging path to growth. Also rising was Flexion Therapeutics (FLXN), which surged over 33% higher after FiercePharma's Editor-in-Chief Tracy Staton said Sanofi (SNY) has agreed to buy the smaller biotech company for more than $1B in cash. Additionally, On Deck Capital (ONDK) rose 6.5% following a report by Reuters saying that Kabbage is seeking to raise funds to use for potential acquisitions and that it is considering the company as a possible target. Among the noteworthy losers was Proofpoint (PFPT), which fell almost 7% Goldman Sachs' Borges downgraded the stock to Sell, citing the stock's premium valuation. Also lower was Accenture (ACN), which slipped 4.5% after the company announced higher than expected second quarter earnings per share. INDEXES: The Dow fell 4.72, or 0.02%, to 20,656.58, the Nasdaq lost 3.95, or 0.07%, to 5,817.69, and the S&P 500 declined 2.49, or 0.11%, to 2,345.96.