On The Fly: Top stock stories for Thursday

Stocks opened in negative territory and the averages spent the rest of the day recovering from their early losses. The Nasdaq was especially weak as Apple (AAPL) shares fell following a report regarding order cuts for the iPhone 8. Despite the drag from Apple, which notched its biggest one-day loss since early August, the Dow was able to get back to better than flat for the day, as did the S&P. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., initial jobless claims dropped 22,000 to 222,000 in the week of October 14, marking a 44-year low. The Philly Fed manufacturing index rose 4.1 points to 27.9 in October. The leading economic index fell 0.2% to 128.6 in September. COMPANY NEWS: Shares of Apple fell 2.4% following a foreign media report claiming the company reduced orders to suppliers for iPhone 8 models by over 50% for the rest of the year... American Express (AXP) shares were in focus after the company reported better than expected revenue and earnings, raised its full-year profit outlook and announced that Stephen Squeri, who has been Vice Chairman since 2015, will succeed retiring CEO Kenneth Chenault... Verizon (VZ) rose a bit over 1% after the Dow member reported in-line earnings, postpaid phone gains and recovering wireless service revenue. Shares of Travelers (TRV), the other member of the blue chip index that reported earnings this morning, rose 2.5%. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the notable gainers was Corbus Pharmaceuticals (CRBP), which gained 10% after reporting Phase 2 study results for its potential treatment of dermatomyositis. Also higher was Adobe (ADBE), which rose 12% after the company's fiscal 2018 guidance was significantly better than expected, with several analysts highlighting its strong margin trends. Sliding after reporting earnings today was Phillip Morris (PM), which fell 4% following the cigarette giant's guidance cut. Additionally, United Continental (UAL) shares dropped 12% after the company reported Q3 results last night and updated its FY17 view. United's weakness also weighed on the whole airline sector, as American (AAL) and Delta (DAL) each slipped about 1%. INDEXES: The Dow rose 5.44, or 0.02%, to 23,163.04, the Nasdaq lost 19.15, or 0.29%, to 6,605.07, and the S&P 500 added 0.84, or 0.03%, to 2,562.10.