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NEW YORK, June 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks traded lower in the morning session Thursday, as a decline in oil prices weighed on Wall Street.
By midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 73.34 points, or 0.41 percent, to 17,931.71. The S&P 500 lost 9.51 points, or 0.45 percent, to 2,109.61. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 24.57 points, or 0.49 percent, to 4,950.07.
Oil prices retreated Thursday, with both the U.S. oil and Brent crude dipping over 1 percent around midday, as traders took profit.
On Wednesday, U.S. oil settled above 51 U.S. dollars a barrel for the first time since July 2015, helped by a larger-than-expected U.S. crude stockpile draw.
On the economic front, in the week ending June 4, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 264,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week's revised level, according to the U.S. Labor Department Thursday.
The four-week moving average was 269,000, a decrease of 7,5000 from the previous week's revised average.
U.S. stocks ended higher after wavering in a tight range Wednesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average above the psychologically key 18,000 level for the first time since April. Enditem
