: Dow ends 170 points lower Thursday, stocks book losses for August

The Nasdaq closed higher for a fifth straight session on Thursday, but the major U.S. equity indexes still ended August with losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA shed about 169 points on Thursday, or 0.5%, ending near 34,721, according to preliminary FactSet data. The S&P 500 index SPX fell 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP rose 0.1%. Stocks enjoyed a bounce in the final week of August but still closed out the month in the red, with the Dow off 2.4%, the S&P 500 1.8% lower and the Nasdaq down 2.2%. The monthly jobs report due Friday is expected to show a slowdown in hiring, but the unemployment rate is anticipated to remain low at 3.5%, near the lows of the late 1960s, worrying investors about the potential need for more rate hikes from the Federal Reserve to keep inflation on the decline. Despite volatility in long-term rates in August, the Nasdaq was up 34.1% this year, its best first eight months to a year since 2003, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.