The U.S. stocks wobbled on Thursday, with major indexes trading in a tight range after initial jobless claims unexpectedly dropped last week, Xinhua reported.
The Labor Department said the number of people filing for jobless benefits fell by 11,000 last week to 445,000, while analysts were expecting a slight increase. However, investors were holding back before the release of Friday's crucial monthly unemployment report.
According to a survey among economists, the government report will probably show the overall unemployment rate climbs to 9.7 percent from 9.6 percent.
U.S. consumer credit fell at an annual rate of 3.3 billion U.S. dollars, or 1.75 percent, in August, the Federal Reserve reported on Thursday.
The August drop marked the 18th drop in the past 19 months, a further evidence of the weak consumer confidence in the United States. Economists held that the possibility of a strong rebound of consumer borrowing in the United States is slim in recent months, against the backdrop of a wrenching recession and high unemployment.
As a new earnings season officially kicked off on Thursday, Alcoa reported that its third-quarter net income slid about 21 percent on lower metals prices during the period.
The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 19.07, or 0.17 percent, to 10,948.58. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 1.91 points, or 0.16 percent, to 1,158.06 and the Nasdaq added 3.01 points, or 0. 13 percent, to 2,383.67.
Crude prices retreated on Thursday from recent highs. Light, sweet crude for November delivery lost 1.56 dollars to settle at 81.67 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In London, Brent crude fell 1.63 dollars to settle at 83.43 dollars a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.