US stocks slip as traders mull jobless claims and brace for September jobs report

• US stocks slid on Thursday as traders braced for the September jobs report.
• Jobless claims jumped 207,000 over the last week, slightly under the expected 210,000.

US stocks slipped on Thursday as investors digested the latest jobless claims and braced for the September jobs report due out on Friday.

Weekly jobless claims came in at 207,000 over the week ending September 30, the Labor Department said, only slightly lower than estimates of 210,000.

That came as a small disappointment to some investors, who have been hoping for softer labor market conditions in order to take pressure off the Federal Reserve as it decides its next policy move.

The labor market could weaken further before the end of the year, considering the lagged impact of rate hikes on the job market, according to Pantheon Macroeconomics chief economist Ian Shepherdson.

"The impact of much higher rates and tightening credit has not yet worked through the economy in full, especially in the services sector, so we still think that claims will be substantially higher by, say, the end of the first quarter, regardless of what happens over the next few weeks," Shepherdson said in a note Thursday morning.

Investors are still largely expecting the Fed to pause rates at its next policy meeting, with markets pricing in an 80% chance interest rates will be kept level, per the CME FedWatch tool. Meanwhile, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury briefly traded higher, rising at one point to 4.775%.

Forecasts for Friday's nonfarm payroll report are for the US to have added 170,000 jobs last month, below the 187,000 added in August.

Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. opening bell on Thursday:

• S&P 500: 4,262.13, down 0.02%

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 33,06.05, down 0.07% (-23 points)

• Nasdaq Composite: 13,233.76, down 0.04%

Here's what else is going on today:

• Billionaire investor Howard Marks sounded the alarm on dollar risks, loan defaults, and fights over the US debt-ceiling.
• Long bonds are cratering, and the asset class is racking up losses that rival the 2008 stock market crash.
• "Bond King" Bill Gross warns that a mortgage rate surge will hammer homebuilding and pave way for an economic downturn.
• Spiking bond yields are sowing panic on Wall Street. These 4 charts capture the chaos.
• Apple CEO Tim Cook just sold 13% of his stock for $42 million after taxes.

In commodities, bonds, and crypto:

• West Texas Intermediate crude oil slipped 1.8% to $82.70 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell 1.6% to $84.40 a barrel.
• Gold fell 0.1% to $1,832.80 per ounce.
• The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond slipped one basis points to 4.71%.
• Bitcoin edged higher 0.83% to $28,036.