Investing.com -- The S&P 500 fell Thursday, as investors weighed up data pointing to a softer labor market and ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East just a day ahead of a crucial monthly jobs report.
By 4:00 p.m. ET (2000 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average contract was down 184 points, or 0.4%, the S&P 500 index fell 0.2%, and the NASDAQ Composite fell 0.1%.
Middle East hits risk assets
Risk sentiment has been hit hard this week by the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday he doesn't expect Israel to deliver its retaliatory strikes against Iran today following the latter attack on Tel Aviv earlier this week.
Biden also said the U.S. was in talks with Israel regarding potential strike targets in Iran, with the Islamic republic's oil facilities likely to be targeted. The U.S. believes any Israeli response would likely be measured enough to avoid a new round of escalation, the Financial Times reported Thursday, citing an unnamed U.S. official.
Oil prices continued to ride Middle East tensions higher, spurring energy stocks to the end in the green.
“Escalation in the Middle East has led markets to price in a greater risk of a fully-fledged conflict in the region, which could potentially involve the US,” analysts at ING said, in a note.
Jobless claims set stage for payrolls
Traders also remain wary ahead of Friday’s key nonfarm payrolls report, which is likely to set the market’s direction ahead of the Federal Reserve’s next rate-setting meeting.
The number of Americans who turned in first-time claims for state unemployment benefits rose by more than anticipated last week, but did not stray too far from a four-month low touched in the prior week.
Seasonally-adjusted initial jobless claims climbed to 225,000 in the week ended on Sept. 28, increasing from an upwardly-revised mark of 219,000 last week, data from the Labor Department showed on Thursday. Economists had anticipated 222,000.
The earlier reading for the week ended on Sept. 21 was 218,000 -- the lowest since mid-May.
Elsewhere on the economic front, services activity fell slightly more than expected in September.
Levis Strauss slumps; Tesla adds to losses; Nvidia jump demand optimism
In the corporate sector, Levi Strauss (NYSE:LEVI) stock fell more than 7% after the jeans maker announced it has put its Dockers brand under review for a possible sale and lowered its group-wide full-year revenue forecast.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock also dropped 3%, adding to the previous session’s losses on disappointing third-quarter deliveries, after the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the EV manufacturer was recalling 27,185 Cybertruck vehicles in the U.S. as a delayed rear view image reduces visibility behind the vehicle.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), meanwhile, rose more than 3% as CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC on Wednesday that demand was "insane" for its next-gen Blackwell AI chips.
(Peter Nurse contributed to this story)