U.S. Stocks Finish Lackluster Session Mostly Lower

(RTTNews) - Stocks turned in a lackluster performance throughout much of the trading session on Thursday before eventually ending the day mostly lower. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 finished the session in negative territory, although the narrower Dow closed slightly higher.

The major averages moved to the downside going into the close, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 hitting new lows of the session. The Nasdaq slid 81.91 points or 0.6 percent to 14,510.30 and the S&P 500 fell 16.13 points or 0.3 percent at 4,688.68.

Meanwhile, the Dow inched up 10.15 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 37,440.34 even though shares of Walgreens (WBA) plunged after the drug store chain slashed its quarterly dividend.

The lower close on Wall Street came as traders expressed caution ahead of the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

Economists currently expect employment to increase by 170,000 jobs in December after jumping by 199,000 jobs in November. The unemployment rate is expected to inch up to 3.8 percent from 3.7 percent.

Ahead of the Labor Department report, payroll processor ADP released a report showing private sector employment in the U.S. increased by more than expected in the month of December.

ADP said private sector employment climbed by 164,000 jobs in December after rising by a downwardly revised 101,000 jobs in November.

Economists had expected private sector employment to grow by 115,000 jobs compared to the addition of 103,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

A separate report released by the Labor Department showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by much more than expected in the week ended December 30th.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims declined to 202,000, a decrease of 18,000 from the previous week's revised level of 220,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 216,000 from the 218,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Sector News

Energy stocks came under pressure over the course of the session, as the price of crude oil turned lower after seeing early strength.

With crude for February delivery falling $0.51 or 0.7 percent to $72.19 a barrel, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index plunged by 2.2 percent and the NYSE Arca Oil Index tumbled by 1.8 percent.

Notable weakness also emerged among retail stocks, as reflected by the 1.0 percent drop by the Dow Jones U.S. Retail Index.

On the other hand, airline stocks regained ground following recent weakness, driving the NYSE Arca Airline Index up by 1.1 percent.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index declined by 0.5 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index dipped by 0.4 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index all climbed by 0.5 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries saw a notable pullback after turning higher over the course of the previous session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, jumped 8.4 basis points to 3.991 percent.

Looking Ahead

Trading on Friday is likely to be driven by reaction to the Labor Department's report on employment in the month of December.