U.S. stocks ended down slightly Thursday, with UnitedHealth down sharply and technology shares easing as investors awaited Friday's jobs report.
The S&P 500 technology index fell from a record closing high on Wednesday, when all three major U.S. stock indexes also notched closing highs.
UnitedHealth was the biggest weight on the Dow and S&P 500, while other insurers including Cigna were down as well.
Health insurance companies are reassessing the risks for their top executives the day after the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan. UnitedHealthcare is part of UnitedHealth Group.
Forecasters believe Friday's employment report will show nonfarm payrolls increased by 200,000 jobs in November, a Reuters survey showed. In October, payrolls rose 12,000, the smallest rise since December 2020.
Data earlier in the day showed the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week.
Daniel Morgan, portfolio manager at Synovus Trust in Atlanta, Georgia, said investors are digesting economic data and looking ahead to Friday's employment report.
"Obviously the Street is going to be trading on what the Fed is going to do," he said. "Also, there is a new administration coming in that's going to be friendly to the stock market and the economy."
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 10.54 points, or 0.17%, to end at 6,075.95 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 35.10 points, or 0.17%, to 19,700.02. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 238.38 points, or 0.53%, to 44,775.66.
On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. economy is stronger than the central bank had expected when it started cutting rates in September, and he appeared to signal support for a slower pace of reductions.
Markets are pricing in about a 70% chance of a 25-bp rate cut this month, and a 30% chance of a pause.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's win in the Nov. 5 elections helped to lift stocks in November as investors cheered his talk of tax cuts and looser regulation.
Shares of Synopsys fell after the chip design software firm forecast fiscal 2025 revenue below Wall Street expectations, in part due to a slump in China sales.
Cryptocurrency and blockchain-related stocks lost steam after surging earlier in the day when bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, stormed above the $100,000 mark for the first time.
MicroStrategy, the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, was down.
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