Stocks fell on Thursday, as Wall Street looked ahead towards the Labor Department's highly-anticipated jobs report for September. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell over 300 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite lost 1% and 0.7%, respectively.
Here's how the market settled on Thursday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -1.02% or -38.76 points to 3,744.52
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -1.15% or -346.93 points to 29,926.94
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -0.68% or -75.33 points to 11,073.31
In the news on Thursday, cannabis related stocks jumped in afternoon trade after the White House announced that President Joe Biden will pardon all federal offenses of simple cannabis possession. Shares of Tilray Brands (NASDAQ: TLRY) and Canopy Growth (NASDAQ: CGC) rose over 30% and 22%, respectively.
Elsewhere for stocks, Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) shares rose on Thursday after JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) analysts said the European bank should be worth at least $15 billion after its restructuring plans turn the bank into more of a pure-play wealth manager.
JPM analysts upgraded the stock to Neutral from Underweight, with Kian Abouhossein writing in a note that the bank has "more than $700 billion in private banking assets under management" that is expected to generate a 15% return in equity in 2024. "We see $15 billion as minimum value today for CSG, in line with our estimated value of the Swiss legal entity."
In economic news, fresh unemployment data showed a jump in first-time filings, totaling 219,000 for the week ended Oct. 1, according to the Labor Department's report on Thursday. This print was above last week's total of 193,000--its lowest total since April, and topped Wall Street expectations.
Investors are anxiously looking ahead towards Friday's jobs report, which will give the Federal Reserve another detailed look at the health of the U.S. labor market, helping inform the central bank's rate-hiking campaign.
Earlier this week, data from ADP showed the labor market remained strong in September despite rapidly surging inflation, with private businesses adding 208,000 positions. Friday's jobs report is seen as the "official" monthly report.
Despite Thursday's lows, market benchmarks are set to end the week more than 4% higher for their best week since June 24.