May 03, 2012- Stocks Close Lower Ahead of Monthly Jobs Report

With traders reacting negatively to a mixed batch of U.S. economic data, stocks moved mostly lower during trading on Thursday. Caution ahead of Friday's closely watched monthly jobs report also contributed to some risk aversion on Wall Street. The major averages climbed off their worst levels going into the close but still ended the day firmly in the red. The Dow fell 61.98 points or 0.5 percent to 13,206.59, the Nasdaq dropped 35.55 points or 1.2 percent to 3,024.30 and the S&P 500 slid 10.74 points or 0.8 percent to 1,391.57. After showing a lack of direction in early trading, stocks came under pressure following the release of a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing an unexpected slowdown in the pace of growth in the service sector in the month of April. The ISM said its non-manufacturing index dropped to 53.5 in April from 56.0 in March, although a reading above 50 indicates continued growth in the service sector. The drop surprised economists, who had expected the index to come in unchanged.