US stocks wobbled on Thursday as investors digested more weaker-than-expected labor market data that could help set expectations for both interest rate cut hopes and the health of the US economy.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) dipped 0.3%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell more than 200 points, or around 0.5%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) wavered between positive and negative territory throughout the day before finishing up more than 0.2%. The gauges ended Wednesday's volatile session mixed as their sluggish start to September continued.

Over the last four days, the S&P 500 is down more than 1.6%, with Information Technology (XLK) falling nearly 4%. Inside tech, Apple, down 3% over the past four days, and Nvidia, down nearly 9%, have been standout laggards.

The highly anticipated August jobs report is expected to serve as the latest piece of economic data indicating that the US labor market is slowing down as investors ponder if further cooling could prompt a more significant interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve in less than two weeks.

The monthly report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, slated for release at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday, is expected to show nonfarm payrolls rose by 165,000 in August while the unemployment rate declined to 4.2%, according to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Economists have reasoned that another weaker-than-expected report could push the Fed to slash interest rates by 50 basis points at its September meeting. But stock strategists aren't overly confident that this result would be taken as a positive by the market.

"This market is sort of showing restless qualities in the sense that it can't really figure out if good news is good news or bad news is bad news, and we continue to search for direction on all of this macro data," SoFi head of investment strategy Liz Young Thomas told Yahoo Finance. "I think if tomorrow's data comes in cool or soft compared to expectations, there will be a negative reaction in the market and likely further selling in a lot of those mega-cap names that have led us up to this point."

Here are the key numbers Wall Street will be looking at on Friday morning compared to the previous month, according to data from Bloomberg:

• Nonfarm payrolls: +165,000 vs. +114,000 previously

• Unemployment rate: 4.2% vs. 4.3% previously

• Average hourly earnings, month over month: +0.3% vs. +0.2% previously

• Average hourly earnings, year over year: +3.7% vs. +3.6% previously

• Average weekly hours worked: 34.3 vs. 34.2 previously

Thursday night will serve as the kickoff to the 2024 NFL season.

It was only three years ago the NFL signed a media rights deal that welcomed Amazon Prime Video (AMZN) into the fold as the exclusive home of Thursday Night Football.

At the time, the $13 billion, 11-year deal was viewed as a disruptive force that would forever alter the state of television and the status quo of sports media rights.

But more than any other major league, the NFL loves television and its wide distribution. Case in point: Within its new media rights deal was news the NFL would return to Disney's (DIS) ABC network on Monday nights, with the network also airing the Super Bowl in 2027 and 2031, ending what will be a 21-year absence.

The league also kept its primary packages in place with CBS (PARA), Fox (FOXA), and NBC (CMCSA). Moreover, the Amazon games are still broadcast over the air for free on local networks.

"The model for us, today at least, is we want to be on linear and digital," Hans Schroeder, executive vice president and COO of NFL Media, told Yahoo Finance. "Streaming is clearly continuing to grow, and I think that'll be a bigger and bigger part of our future as we look forward."

"But to us, it's not an 'either-or' ... Pay TV is under a tremendous amount of pressure, but we've always been more tethered to broadcast and free to air."

Historically, the NFL has been careful not to place too much of itself and its games behind a paywall.

Yet, in the last two seasons, that strategy has begun to shift in what the league describes as "the next step" of its product.

Netflix (NFLX), which previously said it wasn't interested in the business of live sports, inked a three-season deal with the NFL earlier this year to air Christmas Day games. The streamer reportedly coughed up about $75 million per game, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Similarly, Peacock will host one exclusive in-season game — a Friday night game in Brazil on the season's first weekend — after it aired an exclusive Wild Card playoff game last season. The platform, which paid a reported $110 million for the rights to the playoff game, saw a significant lift in subscribers as a result.

Google's YouTube TV (GOOG, GOOGL) now holds the exclusive rights to NFL Sunday Ticket, which makes out-of-market games available to fans nationwide.

"You have to meet consumers where they are," Anthony Palomba, professor of business administration at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, told Yahoo Finance. "That is something that I think up until recently has been lost on all of the major CEOs of media companies. You can't keep doing what's familiar."

Schroeder said the shift to more digital-first, streaming partners is one that "feels less revolutionary this year" and "more like the next step in the evolution."

"For us, it all starts with wanting wide, broad reach of our games," he said. "That's why 85% [of our games] are on broadcast television. It's really a smaller part that aren't. All games are on broadcast in their home markets."

"But we also need to be smart. We know our fans are increasingly spending their time on other screens, other platforms, and we need to be on those platforms too."

Read more here.

New data from ADP released Thursday showed the private sector added its fewest jobs in a month since January 2021, signaling a cooling labor market.

ADP's National Employment Report for August showed 99,000 jobs were added in the month, well below economists' estimates for 145,000 and fewer than the 122,000 jobs added in July. The August data marked the fifth straight month payroll additions had slowed from the month prior.

ADP chief economist Nela Richardson told Yahoo Finance on a call with reporters Thursday morning that the data shows a labor market that is “undoubtedly cooling.”

But Richardson added there are other factors to consider when assessing how weak the labor market truly is. Richardson said that when her team speaks with clients, they are still hearing that churn in the labor force — people leaving their job for another either by choice or not — remains “quite low.”

"People are also staying in their jobs," she said. “They're not quitting, we're not in the Great Resignation, and so there's less need to hire."

To Richardson, this sets the Fed up to be "slow and steady" and lean toward a 25 basis point interest rate cut.

"I don't think that there's anything in the ADP numbers, and I suspect what you'll hear from [Bureau of Labor Statistics], that changes the natural inclination of the Fed to be data dependent and moderated in its policy," Richardson said.

Notably, Richardson's base case relies on no alarming signs coming from the BLS's August jobs report. We'll know more about whether that scenario remains intact at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday.

Yahoo Finance's David Hollerith reports:

Second quarter profits climbed for the US banking industry from the previous quarter. But credit quality continued to worsen, according to the FDIC’s quarterly report.

The banking sector's mixed picture for the second quarter sets it on decent footing ahead of the Federal Reserve's signal it will begin lowering its benchmark interest rate in a matter of weeks.

“The banking industry continued to show resilience in the second quarter. However the industry still faces significant downside risks from uncertainty in the economic outlook, market interest rates and geopolitical events,” FDIC acting Chair Martin Gruenberg said in a statement.

Read more here.

The average rate on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was unchanged this week as investors continue to expect the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates later this month.

The rate was steady from a week ago at 6.35%, Freddie Mac reported on Thursday. A year ago, the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate loan was 7.12%.

Separately, the average rate for the 15-year fixed mortgage was 5.47%, down from 5.51% a week prior. The rate on a 15-year loan was 6.52% a year ago.

“Mortgage rates remained flat this week as markets await the release of the highly anticipated August jobs report,” Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, said in a press release.

Overall, mortgage rates have been on a downward trend since May.

“Even though rates have come down over the summer, home sales have been lackluster. On the refinance side however, homeowners who bought in recent years are taking advantage of declining mortgage rates in order to lower their monthly payments," the economist said.

The Dow (^DJI) dropped more than 350 points on Thursday, leading the overall markets lower.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell 0.4%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) erased early session gains to fall 0.2%.

The major averages have whipsawed through the session as investors digest weaker-than-expected private payroll data ahead of Friday's monthly jobs report.

Industrials, Healthcare, and Financials led the declines on Thursday, while Consumer Discretionary-related stocks clung to modest gains.

Oil futures jumped more than 2% on Thursday after alliance OPEC+ delayed the rollback of some of its voluntary production cuts, meaning it will not dump more barrels into the market.

On Thursday, West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) hovered above $70 per barrel, while Brent (BZ=F), the international benchmark, rose to $74 per barrel.

The decision, as reported by Bloomberg, comes after oil prices lost all their year-to-date gains amid concerns over a slowing Chinese economy and the market's anticipation of more supply.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose 1%, with Consumer Discretionary stocks leading the gains.

EV maker Tesla (TSLA) rose more than 6% on news it plans to stick with its launch of full self-driving capabilities in Europe and China next year. Meanwhile, e-commerce giant Amazon (AMZN) gained 2%. Shares of AI chip giant Nvidia (NVDA) also moved up more than 2%.

US stocks were little changed at the open on Thursday after more soft labor data trickled in ahead of Friday's big jobs report, which could influence the Federal Reserve on the size of its expected interest rate cut at its September meeting.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) hugged the flat line while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell slightly. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) erased earlier losses to rise 0.6%.

New ADP data released before the market open showed private employers in the US posted their smallest monthly hiring growth since January 2021. Private payrolls grew by about 99,000, well below expectations.

Along with the monthly jobs report, the labor data could influence the Federal Reserve on the size of the interest rate cut it will likely announce following its two-day meeting this month.

On the corporate front, C3.ai (AI) shares tanked nearly 20% after the enterprise software maker posted weaker-than-expected subscription revenue. Shares of the once high-flying stock are negative for the year.

Meanwhile, HPE (HPE) stock slipped on disappointment over the profitability of its AI serversy.