U.S. stocks close slightly lower as investors wait for jobs data on Friday

U.S. stocks finished slightly lower on Thursday as investors weighed a rise in initial jobless claims that was slightly smaller than expected while looking ahead to the widely-anticipated employment report on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-0.03%
closed little changed, while the S&P 500
SPX,
-0.13%
slipped 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
-0.12%
shed 0.1%, according to preliminary data from FactSet. Investors are waiting for the U.S. employment report on jobs growth in September, scheduled to be released by the government on Friday morning before the stock market opens.