Dow Seesaws As Wall Street Kicks Off Q4

U.S. stocks opened flat Thursday as the final stretch of the year began with the start of the final quarter. Seven of the 10 Standard & Poor's 500 sectors traded lower, led by declines in tech stocks, while Dow component Apple Inc. NASDAQ:AAPL led the index lower, shedding nearly 2 percent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) dipped 0.87 points, or 0.01 percent, to 16,283. The Standard & Poor's 500 index (INDEXSP:.INX) rose 0.60 points, or 0.03 percent, to 1,921. The Nasdaq composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) lost 16.19 points, or 0.37 percent, to 4,603.

Wall Street recorded its worst quarter in four years a day earlier, erasing nearly $11 trillion from the value of global shares from the July-September period, driven by fears China’s economic slowdown would spread globally.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week as initial claims for state unemployment benefits went up by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 277,000 for the week ended Sept. 26, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims rising to 270,000 last week.

The data marked the 30th straight week that claims remained below the 300,000 threshold, the longest such stretch since the 1970s. Claims below the 300,000 threshold are considered a mark of a strengthening labor market.

The economic indicator is used by economists as a pre-indicator for the U.S. labor market ahead of Friday's highly anticipated jobs report. Economists expect U.S. nonfarm payrolls report to show that employers added 203,000 jobs in September, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. The unemployment rate is forecast to remain at 5.1 percent.

Global shares traded mixed Thursday after China's mammoth manufacturing sector continued to contract in September, according to two separate reports.

The Chinese government's official gauge of factory activity recorded two straight months of decline as the manufacturing PMI rose to 49.8, up from August's three-year low of 49.7. A figure below 50 indicates contraction.

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Separately, a private survey from Caixin/Markit showed China’s PMI fell to a six-and-a-half year low of 47.2, better than an earlier flash estimate of 47, but edging down from August's reading of 47.3.

Following the report, China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite index closed up 0.5 percent while Japan’s Nikkei index rose nearly 2 percent.

European stocks traded mixed, with Germany's DAX edging down 0.35 percent, while France's CAC rose 0.6 percent.