U.S. Stocks Pare Losses as Oil Gains; Kroger’s Q4 Disappoints

After two days of gains, stocks entered negative territory on Thursday, but gave up some of their losses as oil prices rallied over 1 percent. Oil started the session lower, but West Texas Intermediate and Brent, the international price for oil, turned positive. WTI is over $35 a barrel, while Brent eclipsed $37. Investors were still worried about oversupply issues. Meanwhile, supermarket chain Kroger (KR) reported fourth-quarter earnings of $0.57 a share, beating estimates of $0.54 a share. Revenue was $26.2 billion, missing estimates of $26.29 billion. Shares fell some 7%. Herbalife (HLF) shares sunk after the weight management company disclosed in a regulatory filing that it inflated its ‘active new members’ data over the last two quarters. Plus, forget the Genius Bar - Apple (AAPL) launched a tech support handle on Twitter - @AppleSupport. It currently has over 40,000 followers. TheStreet’s Scott Gamm reports from Wall Street.