| Advertisement |
Aug. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. markets closed mostly flat Thursday as investors looked ahead to Friday's July jobs report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the day down 85.86 points, or 0.26%, while the S&P 500 slid 0.078% as both major indexes snapped two-day winning streaks. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed the day up 0.41%.
Advertisement
The Labor Department on Thursday reported that about 260,000 workers in the United States filed new unemployment claims for the week ending July 30, reaching a nine-month high.
The data came as investors also braced for a July jobs report Friday, which economists estimate will show that the economy added 250,000 jobs last month, down from 372,000 in June.
"I would certainly consider today one of those wait-and-see days while we wait for the most important piece of data that comes out this week," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Financial.
The price of crude oil fell below $90 per barrel for the first time since early February on Thursday.
Energy was the worst performing sector on the S&P 500 falling 3.6% as shares of ExxonMobil fell 4.21% while Chevron dropped 2.72%.
Shares of Coinbase also rose as the cryptocurrency exchange platform announced it would partner with asset manager BlackRock to expand access to crypto markets.
Coinbase closed up 10% at $88.90 after trading as high as $116.30 per share earlier in the day. Its 52-week low was $40.83.
2.
