US stocks lower ahead of of December jobs report

Wall Street stocks dipped early Thursday as markets awaited key US employment data and the start of fourth-quarter corporate earnings season.

Analysts project that Friday's employment report will show the US economy added 55,000 jobs last month. The report will be analyzed in terms of whether it boosts the odds of additional Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.

About 10 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.4 percent at 48,814.27.


The broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.1 percent to 6,916.78, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.4 percent to 23,490.99.

Both the Dow and S&P fell Wednesday, retreating from records struck in the prior session as other US data painted a mixed picture of the employment outlook.

Earnings season is due to kick off next week with results from Delta Air Lines and large US banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs.

Analysts have projected seven percent earnings growth for the period, according to CFRA Research's Sam Stovall.

"Earnings are expected to be pretty strong," Stovall said.