Jobs Data Weigh Down U.S. Stocks

Updated from 11:37 a.m. EDT

Stocks in the U.S. were dealt a serious blow Thursday as grim sales reports from the retail sector and rising unemployment claims enhanced investor pessimism.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 241 points at 11,293, and the S&P 500 lost 25 points to 1250. The Nasdaq stumbled 46 points to 2288.

The day's docket included a hefty serving of additional economic information. Automatic Data Processing's August employment figures showed private payrolls down 33,000, a slightly wider decline than estimates. The Department of Labor's jobless claims for the week ended Aug. 30 came in at 444,000, higher than expectations for 420,000 new claims.

The Labor Department's second-quarter productivity increased at an annual rate of 4.3%, ahead of estimates of 3.5% and up from 2.2% in the first quarter. Labor costs, meanwhile, declined at an annualized rate of 0.5%.

In one bright spot, the Institute for Supply Management's nonmanufacturing index came in at 50.6, up from 49.5 and ahead of analyst expectations. Weekly oil inventories from the Energy Information Administration are due out later.

Following the close of their respective rate meetings, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank both announced they would leave their key interest rates unchanged.

Recent declines in commodity prices should clearly be helping the market, said Paul Mendelsohn, chief investment strategist at Windham Financial. Other factors continue to hinder stocks' performance, he said. Investors are hesitant to buy ahead of tomorrow's employment report and may be taking additional time off during the holiday-shortened week, he said.