U.S. stocks finished lower on Thursday, folding after a four-session winning streak, with Wall Street wary ahead of the next day’s monthly jobs report.
“People are hesitant to make big bets today right in front of the big payrolls report tomorrow,” said Alan Skrainka, chief investment officer at Cornerstone Wealth Management.
Stocks resumed their decline after briefly rallying as weekly jobless claims fell and a gauge of manufacturing came in better than feared, lessening concerns about the direction of the economy.
After climbing 103 points and falling as much as 125 points, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA -1.03% closed 119.96 points lower at 11,493.57.
“Uncertainty plus shortsighted trading has promoted the market volatility,” said David Pankiw, partner at Cubic Financial Advisors.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 IndexSPX -1.19% fell 14.47 points to end at 1,204.42, with financials hardest hit and consumer staples faring best among its 10 industry sectors.
The Nasdaq Composite COMP -1.30% declined 33.42 points to close at 2,546.04.
All three indexes advanced on Wednesday, the final trading session for August, with the S&P 500 down 6% for the month, the worst since the ‘flash-crash’ induced decline in May 2010 and worst August in a decade.
“Market valuations, such as the P/E ratio, fell to the lowest levels only seen during bear market bottoms,” according to Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald.
For every stock rising, nearly three fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where 1 billion shares traded by the close of the session.
The market saw mixed reactions to Thursday’s economic news. The Institute for Supply Management’s factor index fell to 50.6 in August from 50.9 the prior month. See story on ISM.
“While I agree with the slowdown, this economy has legs — after the negative month of August, the ISM number held firm,” said Pankiw. “Keep in mind that we are still coming off of the Japan tsunami .... Add in our own U.S. disasters plus the tug of war in Washington and you can confirm the results.”
Dow Jones Industrial Average
(DJI: ^DJI )| Index Value: | 11,493.57 |
|---|---|
| Trade Time: | 4:03PM EDT |
| Change: |  119.96 (1.03%) |
| Prev Close: | 11,613.53 |
|---|---|
| Open: | 11,613.30 |
| Day's Range: | 11,488.46 -11,716.84 |
| 52wk Range: | 10,304.40 -12,928.50 |
