U.S. Stocks Fluctuating Ahead Of Closely Watched Jobs Data

(RTTNews) - Stocks have fluctuated over the course of the trading day on Thursday, extending the lackluster performance seen in the previous session. The major averages have once again spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

Currently, the major averages are all in negative territory. The Dow is down 282.31 points or 0.7 percent at 41,914.21, the Nasdaq is down 41.44 points or 0.2 percent at 17,883.69 and the S&P 500 is down 20.98 points or 0.4 percent at 5,688.56.

The weakness currently visible on Wall Street comes amid a sharp increase by the price of crude oil, with crude for November delivery spiking $3.53 or 5.0 percent to $73.63 a barrel.

Crude oil prices are surging as traders continue to keep a close eye on developments in the Middle East, where an escalating conflict has raised concerns about crude oil supplies.

The Israel Defense Forces said around 100 projectiles were launched from Lebanon into Israel earlier today, while the IDF also said they have killed several Hezbollah commanders in a strike on a military structure in southern Lebanon.

The latest developments come following Iran's ballistic missile attack of Israel earlier this week, with Israel vowing a "very strong" response.

However, traders seem reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department's highly anticipated monthly jobs report on Friday.

Economists currently expect the report to show employment rose by 140,000 jobs in September after climbing by 142,000 jobs in August, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold at 4.2 percent.

The data could impact the outlook for the U.S. economy as well as expectations regarding how aggressively the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates.

With the jobs data looming, CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 67.1 percent chance the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point and a 32.9 percent chance of another half point rate cut.

A day ahead of the release of the more closely watched monthly jobs report, the Labor Department released a report this morning showing an uptick by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended September 28th.

Sector News

Gold stocks continue to see substantial weakness, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 2.1 percent. The weakness in the sector comes despite a modest increase by the price of gold.

Significant weakness also remains visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 2.0 percent slump by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.

Steel, networking and biotechnology stocks have also shown notable moves to the downside, while energy stocks are moving sharply higher along with the price of crude oil.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in another mixed performance during trading on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged by 2.0 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled by 1.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 1.3 percent, the German DAX Index slid by 0.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are extending the downward move seen in the previous session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 4.9 basis points at 3.834 percent.