On The Fly: Top Stock Stories For Thursday

Stocks began the session in positive territory thanks in part to stable oil prices and additional stimulus measures announced by the European Central Bank. Europe rallied and the U.S. futures followed until the news was digested. Before the pre-market trading session had ended the futures were well off their highs and oil prices were retreating. The market saw its highs shortly after the open and then followed oil prices lower and struggled for much of the early part of the session. However, the averages recovered much of their losses during afternoon trading, finishing not far from where they'd closed yesterday.

ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., initial jobless claims fell to 259,000 in the week ended March 5, versus expectations for 275,000 first-time claims. In China, the consumer price index rose 2.3% in February from a year earlier, versus expectations for them to be up 1.8%. The producer price index fell 4.9%, matching the consensus forecast. In Europe, the ECB cut the interest rate on the main refinancing operations of the Eurosystem by 5 basis points to 0.00%, lowered the rate on its deposit facility by 10 basis points to -0.40%, said it will expand monthly purchases under its asset purchase program to EUR 80B starting in April and announced that investment grade euro-denominated corporate bonds will now be eligible for regular purchases. The ECB also said a new series of four targeted longer-term refinancing operations will be launched, starting in June. However, in a press release following the announcement, ECB President Mario Draghi signaled that the central bank does not anticipate cutting interest rates further. In other central bank news, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand surprised the market by unexpectedly cutting its main interest rate by 25 basis points to a record low 2.25%.

COMPANY NEWS: Shares of Columbia Pipeline Group (CPGX) jumped in afternoon trading to as high as $23.40 after The Wall Street Journal reported that the company was in talks about potentially being taken over by TransCanada (TRP). The Canadian company subsequently acknowledged that is in discussions "regarding a potential transaction with a third party," without explicitly naming Columbia as the third party. Then, Columbia's shares fell from their earlier highs after Bloomberg reported that the talks between the two were at a standstill. In the end, Columbia Pipeline Group closed the day with an advance of 7.7% to $21.28, while TransCanada shares traded in New York declined 3.9% to $35.66...

Shares of Square (SQ) advanced early in the session after the payments technology provider last night reported steeper than expected quarterly losses, impacted by costs associated with its IPO, but stronger than expected revenues. The company also guided to positive EBITDA in the coming fiscal year, with Jefferies analyst Jason Kupferberg calling the company's initial outlook for FY16 "likely conservative." However, the stock reversed early in the session and ended the day down 6.1% at $11.30.

Meanwhile, Twitter (TWTR), which is also led by Jack Dorsey, fell 5.9% to $16.61 after The Wall Street Journal reported that the microblog service operator is upping its employee compensation packages to rein in the flight of talent at the company.

MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT), which rose 14.7% to $15.91 after the FDA rescheduled a meeting to review the company's Duchenne muscular dystrophy treatment eteplirsen. Also higher following their earnings reports were Dollar General (DG), which gained 10.6%, and Party City (PRTY), which advanced 14.2%. Among the noteworthy losers was j2 Global (JCOM), which fell 19.9% to $56.90 after Citron Research's Andrew Left published online a report on the Internet services provider, in which he put a $40 near-term price target on the shares and said the stock will be at $27 within one year. Also lower were were Williams Companies (WMB) and Energy Transfer Equity (ETE), which fell 11.5% and about 5%, respectively, after Energy Transfer said in a regulatory filing that it completed a private offering of preferred units without the consent of Williams, which ETE has agreed to acquire.

INDEXES: The Dow (DIA) slipped 5.23, or 0.03%, to 16,995.13, the Nasdaq (QQQ) lost 12.22, or 0.26%, to 4,662.16, and the S&P 500 (SPY) added 0.31, or 0.02%, to 1,989.57.