Stocks Droop on Eve of Jobs Report



U.S. stocks suffered on Thursday as investors awaited more key economic data this week.

The Dow Jones Industrial index dropped 248.33 points to 44,765.71

The S&P 500 subsided 11.38 points to 6,075.11.

The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite dipped 34.86 points to 19,700.26.

Bitcoin traded more than 3% higher, breaking above $100,000 for the first time. The move led crypto-related stocks such as MicroStrategy higher 0.7% while Coinbase rose 3%.

This comes as first-time filings for jobless benefits for the week ending Nov. 30 rose by 9,000 to 224,000, higher than the Dow Jones estimate for 215,000. On the other hand, the level of continuing claims, which run a week behind, edged lower by 25,000 to 1.871 million.

Traders on Thursday looked ahead to key U.S. employment data on Friday. Economists polled by Dow Jones forecast the U.S. economy added 214,000 jobs in November.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury recovered, lowering yields to 4.18% from Wednesday’s 4.19%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices lost nine cents to $68.45 U.S. a barrel.

Prices for gold dropped $22.60 an ounce to $2,653.60 U.S.