WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After failing to sustain an initial move to the upside, stocks have moved mostly lower over the course of the trading session on Thursday. The major averages have all moved to the downside after ending the previous session.
Currently, the major averages are off their lows of the session but still in the red. The Dow is down 284.73 points or 0.6 percent at 50,621.32, the S&P 500 is down 18.89 points or 0.3 percent at 7,632.65 and the Nasdaq is down 50.01 points or 0.2 percent at 26,811.05.
The weakness that has emerged on Wall Street comes amid another sharp increase by the price of crude oil, with U.S. crude oil futures surging by more than 2 percent after jumping by more than 1 percent on Wednesday.
Crude oil prices showed a strong move to the upside after a report from Reuters citing four people briefed on the matter said Chinese refiners have suspended oil product exports for October.
Reuters noted Beijing is looking to preserve domestic stocks, which it called a 'move that will further crimp war-constrained fuel markets.'
However, traders seem reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.
Economists currently employment to increase by 90,000 jobs in September after jumping by 162,000 jobs in August, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 4.1 percent.
A day ahead of the release of the monthly jobs report, the Labor Department released a report this morning showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly edged slightly lower in the week ended September 26th.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims slipped to 197,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level of 198,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 200,000 from the 197,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Sector News
Banking stocks are turning in some of the market's worst performances on the day, dragging the KBW Bank Index down by 2.4 percent to a four-month intraday low.
Significant weakness is also visible among interest rate-sensitive housing stocks, as reflected by the 2.1 percent slump by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index. The index has tumbled to its lowest intraday level in well over two years.
Airline, brokerage and gold stocks are also seeing notable weakness, while oil producer stocks are showing a substantial move to the upside.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance on Thursday, with markets in Hong Kong and mainland China closed for holidays. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index spiked by 3.3 percent, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index slumped by 2 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.8 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.5 percent and the German DAX Index is down by 0.1 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have shown a lack of direction over the course of the session. Currently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 1.4 basis points at 5.277 percent.
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