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Wall Street stocks dipped early Thursday as markets traded cautiously ahead of key US labor data while monitoring an ongoing dockerworkers strike and hurricane recovery attempts.
Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare described the market as “cautious-minded” ahead of Friday’s jobs report for September, which comes just a month ahead of the US presidential election.
At 4.2 percent, US unemployment remains low by historic standards, but the job market has slowed compared with the immediate post-pandemic crunch.
About 30 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.6 percent at 41,926.70.
The broad-based S&P 500 declined 0.2 percent to 5,700.37, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.1 percent at 17,947.09.
Major indices are down for the week so far, giving back a fraction of the gains from the third quarter.
Investors are monitoring a strike of large US ports on the East and Gulf Coasts as well as the response to Hurricane Helene, which has battered parts of North Carolina and the southeastern United States.
jmb/nro
