Indexes end lower ahead of US jobs data, Middle East still in focus
Weekly jobless claims at 225,000
US service sector activity accelerates to 1-1/2-year high
East, Gulf coast workers' strike enters third day
Indexes: Dow down 0.44%, S&P 500 down 0.17%, Nasdaq down 0.04%
Updates to 4:15 p.m. ET/2015 GMT
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK, Oct 3 (Reuters) -U.S. stocks finished lower on Thursday ahead of Friday's monthly U.S. payrolls report and as investors kept a watchful eye on the growing conflict in the Middle East.
Data on Thursday showed that the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits rose marginally last week, while Hurricane Helene and strikes at ports could distort the labor market picture in the near term.
Friday’s jobs report for September is considered key for the outlook for U.S. interest rates. Economists polled by Reuters expect 140,000 job additions,while the unemployment rate is anticipated to stay steady at 4.2%. USNFAR=ECI, USUNR=ECI
Investors are eager for more data on the labor market after the Federal Reserve last month cut its benchmark interest rate by an unusually large 50 basis points, the first reduction in borrowing costs since 2020.
"It looks like investors are cautious ahead of the jobs report tomorrow," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments in New York.
Also, he said, "it's normal to see some profit-taking after a big rally like we've had over the last two, three weeks."
The Cboe Volatility index .VIX, Wall Street's fear gauge, rose to 20.49, its highest closing level since Sept. 6.
Israel's military told residents of more than 20 towns in south Lebanon to evacuate their homes immediately on Thursday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 184.93 points, or 0.44%, to 42,011.59, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 9.58 points, or 0.17%, to 5,699.96 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC eased 6.65 points, or 0.04%, to 17,918.48.
The S&P 500 remains up 19.5%for the year so far.
Traders are now pricing in a 35% probability of a 50 basis point cut next month, down from 49% a week ago, the CME Group's FedWatch Tool shows.
The benchmark index brieflyturned positive after the Institute for Supply Management survey showed U.S. service sector activity jumped to a one-and-a-half-year high in September, further evidence that the economy stayed robust in the third quarter.
"Once again, services is doing the heavy lifting keeping this economy humming along," said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management.
But also, he said, "oil prices have moved higher and the port strike can really throw a monkey wrench in things."
Energy shares gained along with a surge in oil prices as concerns mount over a widening regional conflict in the Middle East that could pose a threat to global crude flows. The S&P 500 energy index .SPNY rose 1.6%.
A workers' strike on the East and Gulf coasts entered its third day. Morgan Stanley economists said a prolonged stoppage could raise consumer prices, with food prices likely to react first.
Constellation Brands STZ.N shares fell 4.7% afterthe beer maker maintained its sales and profit forecast for fiscal year 2025.
Results from some of the big U.S. banks are expected to unofficially kick off third-quarter S&P 500 earnings at the end of next week.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 2.13-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.99-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 25 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 63 new highs and 114 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 11.01 billion shares, compared with the 12.08 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
Additional reporting by Johann M Cherian and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru and Chuck Mikolajczak in New York; Editing by Pooja Desai
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Penafian: Entiti XM Group menyediakan perkhidmatan pelaksanaan sahaja dan akses ke Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian, yang membolehkan sesorang melihat dan/atau menggunakan kandungan yang ada di dalam atau melalui laman web, tidak bertujuan untuk mengubah atau memperluas, juga tidak mengubah atau mengembangkannya. Akses dan penggunaan tersebut tertakluk kepada: (i) Terma dan Syarat; (ii) Amaran Risiko; dan Penafian Penuh. Oleh itu, kandungan sedemikian disediakan tidak lebih dari sekadar maklumat umum. Terutamanya, perlu diketahui bahawa kandungan Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian bukan permintaan, atau tawaran untuk melakukan transaksi dalam pasaran kewangan. Berdagang dalam mana-mana pasaran kewangan melibatkan tahap risiko yang besar terhadap modal anda.
Semua bahan yang diterbitkan di Kemudahan Dagangan Atas Talian kami bertujuan hanya untuk tujuan pendidikan/maklumat dan tidak mengandungi – dan tidak boleh dianggap mengandungi nasihat kewangan, cukai pelaburan atau dagangan dan cadangan, atau rekod harga dagangan kami, atau tawaran, atau permintaan untuk suatu transaksi dalam sebarang instrumen kewangan atau promosi kewangan yang tidak diminta kepada anda.
Sebarang kandungan pihak ketiga serta kandungan yang disediakan oleh XM, seperti pendapat, berita, penyelidikan, analisis, harga, maklumat lain atau pautan ke laman web pihak ketiga yang terdapat dalam laman web ini disediakan berdasarkan "seadanya" sebagai ulasan pasaran umum dan bukanlah nasihat pelaburan. Sesuai dengan apa-apa kandungan yang ditafsir sebagai penyelidikan pelaburan, anda mestilah ambil perhatian dan menerima bahawa kandungan tersebut tidak bertujuan dan tidak sediakan berdasarkan keperluan undang-undang yang direka untuk mempromosikan penyelidikan pelaburan bebas dan oleh itu, ia dianggap sebagai komunikasi pemasaran di bawah peraturan dan undang-undang yang berkaitan. SIla pastikan bahawa anda telah membaca dan memahami Notifikasi mengenai Penyelidikan Pelaburan Bukan Bebas dan Amaran Risiko mengenai maklumat di atas yang boleh diakses di sini.
