Stocks dipped Thursday as signs of a potentially weakening labour market fueled fears of an economic downturn on the horizon.
The Dow Jones Industrials remained in the red 48.61 points to 33,434.11.
The S&P 500 pulled out of negative country 5.03 points to 4,095.41.
The NASDAQ recovered 48.38 points to 12,045.24.
JPMorgan lowered its rating on Comerica shares to neutral from overweight ahead of its first-quarter earnings announcement on April 20.
The latest weekly jobless claims came in higher than expected, adding to recent signals that pointed to slowing job growth. The expansion in private payrolls was well below expectations in March, ADP said earlier this week. Meanwhile, the number of available positions fell below 10 million in February — a first in almost two years. Job cuts have also soared by nearly fivefold so far this year from a year ago.
Over the past several months, investors had cheered signs of economic cooling on the hope that it could push the Federal Reserve to change course on its interest rate hiking campaign. But they are now wondering if the central bank has gone too far in its bid to cool inflation, tightening the economy to the point of a recession.
Thursday will cap off a shortened trading week with the market closed for Good Friday. Investors will still closely monitor March jobs report Friday morning. Nonfarm payrolls has been showing solid growth despite layoffs across tech and financial sectors, but many believe the trend is poised to reverse soon.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury strengthened, lowering yields to 3.29% from Wednesday 3.31%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices grabbed seven cents to $80.68 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices declined nine dollars to $2,026.60 U.S. an ounce.