US markets end lower on Thursday

06 Dec 2024 Evaluate

The US markets ended lower on Thursday as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday. Street currently expect employment to jump by 200,000 jobs in November after inching up by 12,000 jobs in October, while the unemployment rate is expected to tick up to 4.2 percent from 4.1 percent. The jobs data could impact the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's next monetary policy meeting later this month. Meanwhile, the Labor Department released a report this morning showing a modest increase by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended November 30th.

The report said initial jobless claims rose to 224,000, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week's revised level of 215,000. Street had expected jobless claims to inch up to 215,000 from the 213,000 originally reported for the previous week. On the sectoral front, while most of the major sectors showed only modest moves on the day, semiconductor stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the session, dragging the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down by 1.9 percent. Notable weakness was also visible among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 1.2 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 248.33 points or 0.55 percent to 44,765.71, Nasdaq dropped 34.39 points or 0.17 percent to 19,700.72 and S&P 500 was down by 11.38 points or 0.19 percent to 6,075.11. 


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