NEW YORK: U.S. stocks finished lower on Thursday ahead of Friday's monthly U.S. payrolls report and as investors kept a watchful eye on the growing conflict in the Middle East.

Data on Thursday showed that the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits rose marginally last week, while Hurricane Helene and strikes at ports could distort the labor market picture in the near term.

Friday’s jobs report for September is considered key for the outlook for U.S. interest rates. Economists polled by Reuters expect 140,000 job additions, while the unemployment rate is anticipated to stay steady at 4.2%.

Investors are eager for more data on the labor market after the Federal Reserve last month cut its benchmark interest rate by an unusually large 50 basis points, the first reduction in borrowing costs since 2020.

"It looks like investors are cautious ahead of the jobs report tomorrow," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments in New York.

Also, he said, "it's normal to see some profit-taking after a big rally like we've had over the last two, three weeks."

The Cboe Volatility index, Wall Street's fear gauge, rose to 20.49, its highest closing level since Sept. 6.

Israel's military told residents of more than 20 towns in south Lebanon to evacuate their homes immediately on Thursday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 184.93 points, or 0.44%, to 42,011.59, the S&P 500 lost 9.58 points, or 0.17%, to 5,699.96 and the Nasdaq Composite eased 6.65 points, or 0.04%, to 17,918.48.

The S&P 500 remains up 19.5% for the year so far.

Traders are now pricing in a 35% probability of a 50 basis point cut next month, down from 49% a week ago, the CME Group's FedWatch Tool shows.

The benchmark index briefly turned positive after the Institute for Supply Management survey showed U.S. service sector activity jumped to a one-and-a-half-year high in September, further evidence that the economy stayed robust in the third quarter.

"Once again, services is doing the heavy lifting keeping this economy humming along," said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management.

But also, he said, "oil prices have moved higher and the port strike can really throw a monkey wrench in things."

Energy shares gained along with a surge in oil prices as concerns mount over a widening regional conflict in the Middle East that could pose a threat to global crude flows. The S&P 500 energy index rose 1.6%.

A workers' strike on the East and Gulf coasts entered its third day. Morgan Stanley economists said a prolonged stoppage could raise consumer prices, with food prices likely to react first.

Constellation Brands shares fell 4.7% after the beer maker maintained its sales and profit forecast for fiscal year 2025.

Results from some of the big U.S. banks are expected to unofficially kick off third-quarter S&P 500 earnings at the end of next week.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 2.13-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.99-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 25 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 63 new highs and 114 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 11.01 billion shares, compared with the 12.08 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. (Additional reporting by Johann M Cherian and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru and Chuck Mikolajczak in New York; Editing by Pooja Desai)