Leading indexes on the stock exchange in the USA went in different directions on Thursday. The broad S&P 500 fell 0.3 percent and the Dow Jones industrial index fell 0.5 percent, while the Nasdaq's technology-heavy composite index rose 0.3 percent.
New economic statistics also gave mixed signals. On the one hand, a report showed that fewer new jobs were created in American companies in August, contrary to what analysts had predicted. On the other hand, fewer than expected applied for unemployment benefits last week – a sign that relatively few are losing their jobs.
A bit later in the day, the purchasing managers' index for the service sector was also released, which was slightly better than economists had expected.
Among the winners was electric car manufacturer Tesla, which rose 4.9 percent. Semiconductor giant Nvidia, whose stock had fallen sharply earlier in the week, rose 0.9 percent.
