04:57 PM EDT, 09/05/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark equity indexes closed mixed Thursday as markets evaluated labor market data and awaited the official jobs report for August.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5% to 40,755.8, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.3% to 5,503.4. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.3% to 17,127.7. Health care led the decliners among sectors, while consumer discretionary posted the biggest gain.

In economic news, employment growth in the US private sector slowed down for the fifth consecutive month in August, while wage growth held steady, Automatic Data Processing ( ADP ) reported.

US-based employers cut 75,891 jobs last month, surging 193% from July and up 1% from a year earlier, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Weekly applications for unemployment insurance in the US decreased more than estimated, government data showed.

"Initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits continue to signal that layoffs are not the primary catalyst for the softening in the labor market," Oxford Economics said in a note to clients. "However, the Federal Reserve can't be complacent, and the central bank needs to begin cutting interest rates."

On Wednesday, official data showed US job openings dropped in July, while layoffs outpaced quits.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics are expected to show Friday that the US economy added 165,000 nonfarm jobs last month, which would mark an acceleration from the 114,000 gain posted for July, according to a Bloomberg-compiled consensus.

The US services sector's growth accelerated in August, aided by new orders, according to two separate surveys from the Institute for Supply Management and S&P Global ( SPGI ) .

The US 10-year yield fell 4.1 basis points to 3.73%, while the two-year rate dropped 2.9 basis points to 3.74%.

In company news, Copart ( CPRT ) shares slid 6.7%, the steepest drop on the Nasdaq and among the worst on the S&P 500. Late Wednesday, the company reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that missed Wall Street's expectations.

Verizon Communications ( VZ ) agreed to acquire Frontier Communications Parent ( FYBR ) in an all-cash deal worth about $20 billion, as the company looks to boost its fiber network. Verizon shares declined 0.4%, while Frontier Communications sank 9.5%.

Tesla (TSLA) was among the best performers on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, up 4.9%, after the electric vehicle maker said it plans to launch its driver assistance system, called Full Self-Driving, in China and Europe in the first quarter, pending regulatory approvals.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was little changed at $69.18 a barrel Thursday. Commercial crude stockpiles in the US fell by 6.9 million barrels to 418.3 million barrels through the week ended Friday, the Energy Information Administration said. The consensus was for a 300,000-barrel drop, according to a Bloomberg poll.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies are scheduled to start unwinding additional voluntary cuts from October 2024 to September 2025, according to ING. However, "demand concerns and the fact that Brent is trading below ($80 per barrel) could delay plans to increase supply," though a prolonged dispute in Libya may allow OPEC+ to raise supply, ING Head of Commodities Strategy Warren Patterson wrote in a note.

Gold increased 0.8% to $2,546 per troy ounce, while silver gained 2% to $29.14 per ounce.