The benchmark S&P 500 index and the Dow ended lower in choppy trading on Thursday after a short-lived boost from a string of economic reports faded and investors eyed key jobs data due on Friday. The Nasdaq finished slightly higher.

Markets were edgy ahead of the release of the comprehensive nonfarm payrolls data - which will likely set the stage for the Federal Reserve to begin cutting rates later this month.

Market Snapshot

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 219.22 points, or 0.54%, to 40,755.75, the S&P 500 lost 16.66 points, or 0.30%, to 5,503.41 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 43.36 points, or 0.25%, to 17,127.66.

Market Movers

C3.ai, the enterprise software company, reported a narrower fiscal first-quarter loss as revenue rose 21% to $87.2 million and beat analysts ’ projections of $86.9 million. The stock fell 8.2%, however, as subscription revenue in the period rose 20% from a year earlier but was lower than expectations. C3.ai also said it expects a second-quarter adjusted operating loss of $26.7 million to $34.7 million, wider than the first quarter ’ s loss of $16.6 million.

U.S. Steel was up 2% after tumbling 17% on Wednesday following a report from the Washington Post that said President Joe Biden would block Japan-based Nippon Steel ’ s $14.1 billion deal to buy the U.S. steel maker.

Nvidia rose 0.9%. The stock has had a tough week, including a 9.5% decline Tuesday that wiped out a $279 billion in market value, the largest one-day market cap loss for any U.S. company on record. It was announced Wednesday that Nvidia would be investing in Sakana AI and partnering with the artificial-intelligence research company to spur AI development in Japan.

Broadcom Inc., a chip supplier for Apple Inc. and other big tech companies, fell over 6% in late trading after delivering a disappointing sales forecast, hurt by the portion of its business that isn ’ t tied to artificial intelligence.

Tesla was up 4.9%. The company said it plans to launch full self-driving assistance software in Europe and China next year. Shares of the electric-vehicle maker rose 4.2% on Wednesday and were the S&P 500 ’ s best-performing stock during the session. Tesla shares remain down 12% for the year.

U.S.-listed shares of NIO, the Chinese EV maker, rose 14% after the company reported a second-quarter adjusted loss that was narrower than expectations. The loss in the period was 30 cents a share compared with analysts ’ estimates that called for a loss of 31 cents.

Frontier Communications was down 9.5% after Verizon Communications confirmed it would be acquiring the Dallas-based communications services provider in a $20 billion all-cash deal. Verizon fell 0.4%. Frontier surged 38% on Wednesday after The Wall Street Journal reported a deal could be announced this week.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise, the server maker and enterprise-technology company, posted fiscal third-quarter adjusted earnings that beat Wall Street forecasts and revenue of $7.7 billion that matched expectations. The company said AI-server revenue hit a new company record. But the stock was down 6% as investors concentrated on a decline in profit margins.

Verint Systems, which sells products and services for customer experience automation, fell 11% after reporting second-quarter adjusted earnings and revenue that missed analysts ’ estimates.

ChargePoint Holdings fell 18% as the electric vehicle-charging company announced it would cut its workforce by about 15%, or 250 jobs, and reported second-quarter revenue that missed analysts ’ estimates.

Copart was down 6.7% after the auctioneer of salvaged vehicles reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of 33 cents a share, missing Wall Street forecasts of 37 cents.

Market News

Low US Weekly Jobless Claims Assuage Fears of Labor Market Deterioration

The number of Americans filing new applications for jobless benefits declined last week as layoffs remained low, helping to allay fears that the labor market was deteriorating.

The weekly jobless claims report from the Labor Department on Thursday, the most timely data on the economy's health, also showed unemployment rolls shrinking to levels last seen in mid-June. It reduces the urgency for the Federal Reserve to deliver a 50 basis points interest rate cut this month.

Weekly jobless claims fall 5,000 to 227,000. Private payrolls increase 99,000 in August.

Fed Seeks Feedback on Emergency Lending Operations

The Federal Reserve said on Thursday it was seeking feedback on how it operates its "discount window," which is intended to provide emergency lending to banks in times of stress.

The Fed said it wanted comments on various aspects of how banks deal with the window, including the collection of legal documentation, pledging and withdrawing collateral, and extending credit. The central bank said the input will inform its efforts to keep the tool "effective and efficient."